Spring Renewal

Unlike most people, I don’t despise the winter months. I remember when I left for the Peace Corps it was late summer with the days still steamy hot and the nights still muggy. Nicaragua was much the same, with long days of sunshine heating the earth. But, as my time wore on in training, I realized I was waiting for something. I was bracing myself for the usual seasonal change in weather, for that first cold day when you know it’s time to get out the winter gear. Only, in Nicaragua it never really got any cooler, it just rained a lot more during the months of Northern Hemisphere winter. The rainy season in the area I was assigned to was abysmally short resulting in a much longer and pronounced dry season. I imagine how I felt about the dry season in Sabana Grande, Nicaragua is how most people feel about winter in Pennsylvania. I hated the dry season. Where I lived the rainy season stretched from September through December. In the northern mountains of Nicaragua the rainy season would return after a brief hiatus in January and in some areas there were as many wet months as dry. Not in El Horno. It stopped raining by January and then the heat would start to climb, quickly drying up what water was gained. By April the pools of water and thick patches of mud had turned to fine powdery dust that covered everything in a sticky brown film. The river stopped flowing and drinking wells expelled their last drops of water. And still the sun baked the earth relentlessly, with not a cloud in the sky. The heat became oppressive, like a living thing hell-bent on total annihilation, blistering and wilting everything in its path. The nights no longer cooled the burning of the tortuous sun. The parched earth cracked and groaned for the brief rains of May and June to bring some relief. Some years rain doesn’t fall again until September, plunging the whole area into a water crisis as man and beast fought for every last drop of moisture. I vowed to never be in Nicaragua again during the month of April, to never again subject myself to the unquenched visceral desire for water. I liken my distain for the dry season in Nicaragua to my fellow Northerner’s displeasure of the winter months. While I love snow and prefer a brisk and chilly day to sweltering heat, I don’t love the shorter days (something else I didn’t experience in Nicaragua – the length of the days is fairly static being so much closer to the Equator) and long, dark nights, but other than that winter doesn’t bother me. Still, I’m not immune to Spring Fever. We’ve had a string of warm days and now, today it’s cold again and my mind just cannot grasp the change. I noticed this morning the sun was up earlier than usual and in the evening it sets much slower. Oddly, in Nicaragua you can literally watch the sun sink beneath the horizon. It is a much faster event than it is farther north. In Nicaragua the sun seems to scurry out of the sky where here in PA during the summer months it lingers with the long last rays of sunshine still dancing in the sky as the moon makes its appearance. The warm days this early in March are such a tease. I want them to stay, but know there are still many chances for cooler weather to return. Still, as nature rouses itself from winter’s doze, I’m anxious to partake in the renewal. This time of year I always want to dig in the earth and coax green things to grow. Perhaps it is instinctual to me as it is to the plants. Moreover, right now I was to slough off the chaos and pain of what has occurred and coax my little family to take root. I’m ready for a personal renewal to rival Spring’s glory.

 

Here are the things I hope for this Spring:

 

• I hope Esperanza will begin talking to me again soon and I hope we can repair our relationship. I miss her a great deal.
• I hope Esperanza will attend her prom or perhaps her boyfriend’s prom because I feel she will regret it if she doesn’t. I would love if she would let me help her pick out a dress (or at least see the dress) and her hair style. That would be a lot of fun.
• I hope Hermano’s girlfriend has a baby shower and I hope we (Primero, Esperanza, Mr J and his girlfriend, Aunt W and Uncle G and I) are invited. It would be fun if they did their gender reveal there (unless they decide to not know the gender before birth, which is so rare these days). Both Primero and I are hoping for a girl. I love buying baby girl clothing! I also hope Hermano will bring the baby for visits with us, but if they live where his girlfriend is living now, it would be quite a hike.
• I hope Primero gets his driver’s license this summer.    
• I hope we don’t have to wait until next year for the little ones adoption.
• I hope Esperanza will allow me to attend her high school graduation (I’m hoping she will want her brother there more than she will not want me there).
• I hope my bees survived the winter.
• I hope Love Bug starts speaking and stops biting.
• I hope my mom is able to be out and about because she will not be a happy camper to watch Spring bloom from a seat
• I hope we are able to have more outings with Mini Momma and perhaps Grandma too. Right now I’m hatching a scheme to take Mini Momma on an excursion to a local orchard on Good Friday for an Easter egg hunt and other fun festivities. I’d really like to be able to involve her more in those types of events.