Doors were flung open and people tumbled outside to feast on
a sky unmarred by clouds and alight with a blazing sun. Sixty degrees and a
soft caressing wind invited us to come out of hibernation and celebrate the end
of a brutal winter. Bikes, trikes, scooters, skates and strollers rolled
happily along. You could feel the solar panels sucking up the sun. Pairs of
osprey wheeled overhead, calling faintly to each other. Two bald eagles flew
low down the inlet, a sight so unexpected and surprising that I cannot be sure
I actually saw them.
But my first gratitude blossomed yesterday, at the annual
return of a pair of mallards swimming in a nearby roadside ditch flowing with
the winter melt. They pique my curiosity… why the ditch, when there is a lake,
a creek, and a pond within a half-mile radius? Spotting the ducks feels like a
homecoming. Something in me loosens when I know they have come back, and some
piece of the world swings into place. Here is the ditch where they hang out.
The second gratitude is simply relief. Warmth, unmarred by
the piercing of a bitter wind.
Third – a lightness of being – no coat, or scarf, or
mittens, or hat or any of the other paraphernalia required to master the
winter.
Fourth… with any luck (and I won’t count on this, although I
will hope) I will not have to scrape frost off my windshield until November.
So, the animals and birds are returning to their summer home
and we are emerging from our winter homes into the light of day. Hallelujah.
