Let Go

Winter jackets?
Snow pants?
And boots?

"That's right!" I answered the boys' groans before they ventured outside to catch the bus this April morning.

"Snow is the best kind of precipitation we can get this time of the year," I assured them. "It moistens the soil and provides nitrogen to green up the grass."

I shoveled the side walk dumping a heap of white stuff on the flower bed next to the house.

The irises, hostas and sedum plants should LOVE this!

As I measured
4-1/4 inches
collected on
the deck table
that looks up
our hill –
studded with
pin oak trees
that are
still clinging
to last season's
leaves –

I was reminded
of my grandma's brother.

Long ago, he used to bring the season's first pussy willows to my mother – his niece-in-law who helped prepare his income taxes. Along with his gift, he shared stories. He remembered his one-room-school-house teacher asking: "What trees don't lose their leaves?"

When the teacher called on him (the student waving his arm in the air) my great uncle recalled saying: "Red oaks!"

The teacher shook her head and asked for names of evergreens: pines, spruces, firs and cedars. My uncle said, "But red oaks do keep their leaves – all winter long. When they do shed their leaves, it's as sure a Sign of Spring as pussy willows."

Here's to waiting for the red-oak family to "Let Go!"