April 2018 and we have snow–again. Winter doesn’t like letting go. And while climate change afficianadoes might claim this is evidence of the weather changing, I beg to differ. Gramma Fern’s diary said something else entirely. Gramma Fern, Keith’s grandmother, has been gone since our son was a toddler. One of her diaries shares how she and her husband when they were on the farm many years earlier woke up to ice–in late Spring. Reading that passage was a surprise to me, but there it was in black and white. That year, weather kept the farmers out of the fields, which is probably why Gramma Fern made a note of it in her diary.
Such weather conditions hadn’t changed years later when I headed to Good Samaritan for my C-section to have our son Chris April 4, 1980. We had blizzard a day or so before I entered the hospital. Winter breathed it’s last while new life was born. In fact, while I had him Friday with snow still piled up outside, by Easter Sunday two days later the weather was so warm the staff opened the windows to let the warm breeze waft through the hospital rooms.
I hope this snow is the last breath of Winter, but who knows. This is Nebraska. On Facebook was the picture of a friend’s kids in Omaha–all decked out in coats, boots and gloves to play outside in the snow. They were having a snow day.
Here in Kearney, I watch the snow fall as I type this. I like working at the dining room table where I can look out the window and across the street to the park. The new green growth of Spring isn’t completely covered yet by the falling snow either at the park or on our lawn, but snow is collecting. The flakes are still fairly large, but wind is blowing the snow sideways as well as down. I like snow–in Winter. I like it especially when I can stay warm and dry inside. Snow sparkles and glows and in its newness is white and bright. But this is April!
Still, I remind myself snow means moisture and that is something needed at this time of year. It is the moisture from snow and rain that sinks into the soil and nourishes the plants below. The moisture encourages them to start heading upward toward light and sun. It is snow and rain that soaks into the ground ensuring enough moisture for the months of growth and crops to come.
While we may not like the cold and snow this late in the season and while we dream of warm weather, we also need to give thanks that, in whatever form, we’re getting moisture that we need to live and to raise our families here in a place once called “The Great American Desert.” Besides, I prefer snow to days of gloomy rain.
So I while I dream of sun and warm, I smile, look up and give thanks.After all, God has the weather as well as everything else under control.
Published 4/23/2018 Kearney Hub
By Carolyn R Scheidies