March Winds

We may have done the whole “spring forward” thing, but around here the first part of that message was not received. It is cold, windy, rainy, and most definitely not spring-ish, besides a few flowers that couldn’t wait in the cold ground anymore. I don’t blame them. There are some buds around town, such as in the entire parking lot at the Redmond Library which is filled with trees donning pink blossoms, unfortunately the grey sky does not show off their radiance as well as a blue sky would. Explaining ‘spring forward’ is an especially hard task to do for a child who is perpetually here and now as my older son is. He had a very hard time learning that there were days of the week, that meals had specific names, and that he lived in a city that resides in a state in a specific part of a certain country, etc, so the idea that we have moved forward an hour naturally throws him. “So, it’s spring now?” “Where did the hour go?” “Do we have an hour less of school?” These questions do not seem so extraordinary except they were asked two days in a row (so far) and always before I had a chance to take in my morning coffee. We then had another conversation about time that went equally as well, “What is 200 years ago? Is it like, the dinosaurs, or Romans, or what?” I tried to think of something he’d understand, which in our particular house means answering, “It’s like Sherlock Holmes.” “WHAT! No way. 200 years is way too long ago for that.” “OK, it is a bit long ago~ Sherlock would be later 1800s but 200 years ago was 1812.” “No way.” “Really it was. 100 years ago was 1912, and 200 years ago was 1812.” In disbelief he shook his head and walked away. Can I just have my coffee now, please?