240401
April Fools Day
Nature played a joke on us, dumping icy rain and then snow—wet snow, heavy snow, just after midnight.
I don’t feel like shoveling it off the concrete stoop. But if I don’t, then, well… I have slipped right off my feet and don’t feel like doing that again. It took months for my leg to heal, and the blue and purple to gray-green bruise remained longer than expected. But it was the bruised bone, hidden deep within, that kept me tossing and turning during the night.
Nope. I don’t want that again. So I will carefully step out, grasping the door frame, completely sidestepping the concrete, and into the flower bed. Frozen grass and dirt are more forgiving with a sheet of ice beneath the snow.
Here we go, swinging my left leg out, pivoting on my right, gripping the frame. My left foot soundly lands on top of the crocus. “You will survive my weight,” I promise it. “Sorry to do this to you.” pivoting on top of it I swing around with my right leg. Poor little first shoots of spring. The tiny ice crystals crush the fragile blades beneath.
Carefully stepping out of the flower bed, I remember I left the sand in the garden shed.
“April Fools Day,” Nature calls out to me.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” my sarcasm drips off my words. I wave an aside to Nature.
“You know,” I say, “I really hoped you’d send warm days for Spring.”
“It’s too early for that.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Your ranchers and farmers, well, they still need the rain, the snow, the moisture.”
I glance across the wheat fields. Yesterday’s emerging shoots are blanketed in white. Haystacks lined one side of the field like loaves of bread.
“Yeah, I know you’re right. But some days, I’m just… well, I’m getting older. My legs don’t always work the way I wish. I want to slow down a bit—not a lot, but a bit. I get tired easier these days.”
“I understand.” Assures Nature. “However, All Life depends on Nature. My purpose is to provide for All. You are One.”
Wild turkeys began flying down from their roosts among the immense cottonwoods — the giants of the ravine now tinted reddish-green as leaves mature within capsuled buds.
“Ah, yes, I am a selfish this morning.”
“Your legs are managing well today,” Nature reminded me. “You are of sound mind, a place in life, and a purpose.”
“I have a purpose.” And right now, it’s to get the sand out! Spread it around, and begin the day.
At that moment, Nature’s warm light glowed through the thick, gray, snow-laden sky, catching the edge of a metal farming disk. Its light winked at me, catching me off guard.
“Happy April 1st.!”