Megan Again: Dead Skunks, Sunshine and Daffodils

Megan Again: Dead Skunks, Sunshine and  Daffodils
By Megan Wirts

I have a love/hate relationship with spring.

I love it because it isn’t winter and I hate it because it isn’t summer. It’s not terrible, in fact it’s quite delightful most of the time, it’s just not my favorite. There are things about this time of year that make me feel as happy as a toddler does when they find a piece of candy in a plastic egg on Easter Sunday, but there are also parts of it that make me want to shut my blinds and hide out for another two months. 

A friend of mine described spring as, “waking up” and my response...

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...to that was, “So, aches and pains, red eyes and a desperate need for coffee?”. 

I hate waking up, but once I’m up and sufficiently caffeinated, I’m happy, and that’s how I feel about spring.

It’s true, the grass is greener and the flowers are starting to bloom. I love to see a yellow daffodil poking up through the soil. It makes me feel hopeful and excited about the coming warm months. However, with all the flowers and greenery comes one of the most horrible parts of the season: allergies. I do not personally suffer terribly from seasonal allergies, I will have the occasional runny nose and watery eyes, but everyone else in my family turns into a wretched and whiney human being as soon as the first bud begins to bloom. It’s a nightmare.

They all have itchy eyes and drippy noses for weeks. Not to mention the oldest small person is an asthmatic and when she was younger, she would spend a week or two in the hospital wheezing like an old man that had a two pack a day habit for 40 years. This time of year can be miserable.

Then there is the sunshine. The wonderful, glorious, warm sun. Oh, how I have missed the sunshine. I can start getting my Vitamin D organically instead of in pill form. It’s one of the things I love most about this time of year. When the sun comes out, the kids can go outside and play. Hallelujah!  I will fill those small people with allergy meds and send them out the door. It’s wonderful!

Until it starts raining or…snow…barf.

Springtime weather is very fickle. T.S. Eliot got it right when he said April was the cruelest month. One minute it’s 70 degrees and the entire neighborhood is outside mowing their lawns and wearing t-shirts, and the next it’s 32 degrees and I’m preparing for the snowstorm of the century. The second I put the mittens away the clouds will roll in and there will be enough snow on the ground to build a snowman.

Since it isn’t safe to put away the winter coats and boots, but it’s also flip flop weather it leaves my mud room overloaded. There are winter boots, rain boots, sandals and soccer cleats creating a mountain of footwear that resembles Mt. Everest. Then I end up stubbing a toe or falling on my face whenever I try to get by it. I want the boots gone! But I’m afraid it will snow if I even attempt to move them and I don’t want to take that chance.

There is nothing worse than a snowstorm in April. It’s never that soft fluffy stuff that you dream about in December. Instead it’s thick, wet and slushy. The kind that will give you a heart attack if you try to shovel it. Yuck. When you live in Michigan, you know it could snow at any time. So, the boots and mittens are staying put for the time being. I’m not usually superstitious, but this is one of those times that I am. I do not take care of my winter clothing items until I feel there is only a 99% chance it could snow, which means that it all stays until at least the middle of June.

Then, with the albeit inconsistently warmer weather, comes all the animals out of hibernation. The birds are chirping, the frogs are croaking and the world feels alive again!  It’s a beautiful thing. Until some poor skunk decides to cross the street behind your house and gets run down by a speeding truck. Then its carcass is left there filling the neighborhood with its offensive odor. *sniff sniff* Yup, it smells like spring.

True story, when I was in second grade, we were asked to draw a picture of what spring meant to us and instead of drawing a picture of cute little birds or pretty daisies like my friends, I drew a dead skunk lying in the middle of the road. I guess I have felt this way about spring for a while now.

My friend was right, spring is like waking up. Some of us just need 4 cups of coffee and a shower in order to face the day, but we are also incredibly thankful to have it.
Springtime to me is dead skunks, sunshine and daffodils.
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It stinks a little, but it can also be warm and lovely.