You Are My Sunshine

I saw a blue streak in the sky today followed by a strange, yellowish-white light! Oh, it’s the sun and a strip of sky trying to peek through the grey cloud cover! I feel like Paul who was in the storm at sea and hadn’t seen the sun or stars for 14 days. Well, we’ve had daylight, but a dismal one for what seems like two weeks. This morning I dressed to go out in winter coat, gloves, turtleneck and corduroys against the cold and damp, but my wardrobe this afternoon gave way to sandals and capris. It’s supposed to be 88 on Sunday! My mood is lighter already!

I have a dozen buds on several of my irises, some more plump than others, and the knock-out rose bushes we planted last year have greened up, looking alive and well, even showing buds. I think the pansies are the only things that have enjoyed the cold, misty weather of late. They are as happy as clams, their little faces turned up and bobbing merrily in the wind. Their bright colors of yellow and violet have cheered me on the disagreeable days we’ve been having. Spring’s grey skies set off the soft green of the trees and the lilac of the redbuds beautifully, though. Nature’s palette is like a water color, especially on rainy days.

Today is the last day of March, with Easter coming in scarcely three weeks. I should be used to Oklahoma weather by now, after the 3 1/2 years we’ve been back and the childhood I spent here. I remember Easter almost always being cold and grey back then. (Later, my husband’s mother invariably attributed the weather to the “equinoxial storm.”) I didn’t know that then, I only knew that we teenage girls were chilly at Easter services in the flowery, pastel dresses our mothers had made, wobbly in our white heels with goose bumps on our bare legs.

After attending our granddaughter’s wedding on Good Friday at her father’s church in Tennessee, we may spend Easter a few hours away in North Carolina with children who live there. Our son is a pastor, too, and we are looking forward to church with them. What a time of celebration! Families getting together, a blessed holiday, and Spring all at the same time. When I get back, I should be welcomed home by a mass of purple irises. And hopefully, warmer weather!