Forecast This Week: Warm and Sunny

I love to watch the kids get reacquainted with the sun. After the long cold, gray and rainy days of winter and early spring they've forgotten why they loved being outside so much last year.

Edison always spends the first really nice day of spring laying in the grass with the sun beating down on him. He thaws. Then he ambles over to the dirt pile and pokes at it with a stick. He crouches and feels the warmth of it. Soon, his shirt is off, his boots are off and he is knee high in a new series of canals and tunnels dug into the black dirt.

St. George runs and whoops. The bright warm sun on a cool day energizes him. He runs. And runs. He can't keep his excitement to himself and he can't articulate it. He whoops.

Rose gives herself time to rediscover everything. She tries out the swing. She is clearly delighted, but not yet ready to share the experience. After a time, I see her run through the pasture, then stroll through the back meadow. After lunch she is ready to share. She takes me for a walk and points out lupines in the pasture, she takes me to the wild strawberry patch to see the little plants have bloomed. We walk in the woods and stop at each trillium. After our walk, she joins Edison and St. George on the dirt pile.

Several hours later, I see the first real signs that spring has really arrived. Three muddy children with soft dirt between their toes, under their fingernails, in their ears, in their hair asking for a bath. Asking for a bath. Quiet voices at the dinner table and three tired, but satisfied bodies that get into bed without dawdling, and then fall, immediately, asleep.