Spring in Ohio (April 2009)

Before I left for my trip, Shay asked me what the weather would be like. "Rain," I told her. "And, sunshine. Warm days and cold days. Maybe snow."

She's always lived in Brisbane. She thought I was joking. Here we have sweeping weather changes from "Fine" to "Mostly fine"...all in the same week! OK. I exaggerate. Some days it does rain.

Anyway, in the course of the two weeks I spent in Ohio in April the weather was gloomy, sunny, rainy...and it did snow. I wore a hat and gloves. I sat in shirt sleeves with my mother on her deck basking on a warm spring morning. The usual.

What I didn't accurately convey to Shay, however, was how beautiful and soul expanding it was to be in Ohio in spring. The greens are fresh. The flowers earnest. The breeze smells like hope.

Kevin thinks it is paradise here. Granted, the days are mostly sunny and warm. But, unless you've huddled under the grey and cold of winter, I just don't think you can ever feel the same joy in spring.

"But I think I've learned not to grieve on the world's ways, at least not when spring is at hand." Dave Robicheaux from James Lee Burke's "Cadillac Jukebox"