A Blonde's Perspective - From shovels to mosquitoes

By Jan Stadtherr

Spring is the long-awaited season between snow shovels and mosquitoes. By the time spring arrives, most of us are emotionally prepared for it long before Mother Nature gets around to it.

Spring is that hopeful time of year when we look out the window, see a patch of bare ground, and announce with confidence, “Winter is over.” This statement is usually followed within 48 hours by a blizzard, but optimism is part of the tradition.

When we were young, spring meant new shoes and Easter bonnet, lighter jackets, and being told to go outside and play. Today, spring means trying to remember where we put our spring jackets, and debating whether going outside is really necessary.

Many seniors agree, the best part of spring is not plants—it’s finally being able to get out of bed without negotiating with many stiff joints.

Robins are considered a sign of spring, but in many neighborhoods, the true sign of spring is seeing someone mowing their lawn too early, or the neighbor who insists it’s grilling weather at 42 degrees, although some Minnesotans grill all year long. Brrr!

 The new season brings on spring cleaning that means moving clutter from one room to another and calling it progress, and not throwing something out because you may need it someday.

Daylight saving time was created to save energy. Today it mainly exists to confuse every one, make seniors wake up early anyway, and gives young people the reason to complain about the hour of sleep they lost.

A true sign of spring is to see the flowers bloom like tulips, daffodils, crocuses and the mysterious pink plastic flamingo that pops up in someone’s yard before the flowers do.

We can’t forget the dandelion. Adults refer to them as a weed, whereas children refer to the yellow blossom as a flower. When I was a child, I loved the yellow flower (aka weed)! I always picked two or three for my mother who would put them in a small glass of water and place them on the dinner table. They disappeared by the next morning. As a grandmother, I’ve proudly received similar bouquets or even just one with no stem.

Spring allergies arrive as trees, grasses and flowers, including the yellow weed, release pollen everywhere. With watering eyes, and a tissue in hand, seniors say when they were young, there were no allergies. While working at a clinic, I overheard a patient declare, “When I was young, we didn’t have allergies. We just sneezed and kept going!”

We plant seeds in our freshly tilled gardens, but nothing grows as it’s either too cold, too hot, too wet, or too dry. Eventually, something grows, but it’s never what and where we planted it. Despite the mud, pollen, unpredictable weather, and heroic attempts at spring cleaning, there is something magical about the season. For us seniors, we know warm weather will come eventually, the weeds will grow faster than the flowers, and new life will be enjoyed again.

So, here’s to spring—the season of hope, renewal, and the annual realization that we should have kept that winter coat just a little longer. Cheers!