For those of you readers living in southern states, the weather might not be on the top of the conversation priority list. I get that. However, we upper Midwesterners can’t turn on a radio, tune into the evening news, or snap open a newspaper without having the forecast at the forefront of all things newsworthy.
Mercifully, we have finally broken through the Winter That Would Not End. After seven months, the kids finally dug out shorts this past weekend! Just days after a late April snowstorm that saw school closed for a day and a half, they were at last able to ride bikes and scooters and run around without boots. I didn’t even care that they came back inside muddy and grass-stained. It was a welcome change from being frozen and wet.
Last week, as freezing rain and snow pelted down, Jack, my seven-year-old, asked, “Mommy, what do the little birdies do when they fly back to Minnesota and it’s still winter? Do they turn around and fly south again?” Good question, kid. I’m thinking those little birdies are thinking not-so-great thoughts as they’re shivering on our barren tree branches. And I would imagine that if budding tulips were capable of forming opinions, theirs might be, “Now wait just a minute here!”
This past weekend we saw the first 70+° weather this year. It was glorious! There was laundry to tackle, grocery shopping to do, cleaning to start and all other manner of weekend chores that needed doing. Very little of it got done. We took the kids to a park and let them run and play. We sat on a park bench, just soaking in the sun and loving the warm air. Heaven! Out came the bats, balls and gloves as we took turns throwing underhand pitches to the kids. The metallic ting! of the aluminum bat is a most welcome sound after more than a half a year of being relegated to snow sports. Although, in a state that just a few years ago constructed an open-air baseball field for our MLB team, we can now argue that baseball is a snow sport after this spring.
We were on such an outdoor high this weekend that we made an impulsive fire pit purchase and made s’mores with the kids Saturday night in the backyard. It’s amazing how some nice weather after a tiresomely long winter can make a couple throw out the family budget and spend with wild abandon! Okay, it didn’t cost that much, but on any other given weekend, I would’ve stuck to my guns and said we can buy a frivolous item like that when we have some extra money lying around. As it was, my husband probably could’ve talked me into installing an in-ground swimming pool in the backyard.
The weatherman says more snow is coming this week. Bah humbug! I fear that come Wednesday, Minnesotans will be muttering to themselves and begging Mother Nature for a bit of mercy. I think most of us plan to hold our breath until this weekend brings warmer temps again, and then hope like crazy that’s the last of the snow. My mother, however, reminisced about Mays gone by when my brother’s birthday, May 9th, was celebrated with inches of snow outside. If that’s the case this year, I think I’ll be packing up and moving farther south.
The little birdies just might be coming with me.
