By: Tamon Mark Uttech
“Don’t worry,” I said to the old dog.
“Spring will come,
it’s an Easter egg.”
-tamon
The last third of Winter is pretty hard. ‘Desolate’ is a word that comes easily to mind. The winter season settles in your bones and your bones would rather be rid of it. There is an old story of Confucius riding with a friend to another city on horseback, and when the city landscape comes into view, the friend wants his horse to gallop all the faster but Confucius puts a hand on his friend’s arm and says, “No need to hurry, where we are right now is also good.” I like to count down the days until the Spring Equinox. It makes me feel like it is a real journey and when I feel the actual days dwindling down, there is no need to hurry, just like in the old story.
Every new snowstorm that comes in the last third of Winter, the freezing rain and ice makes some of us wonder: “How much more? How much further?”
And we want to hurry.
I remember an Easter egg hunt I got invited to watch while there was still snow on the ground. I remember looking out the window at a snowy backyard and I could immediately see almost all of the colored eggs that a group of children were going to hunt for. I remember thinking it would be more of a challenge if all the eggs were white. That particular event was a perfectly terrible display of adults controlling the environment. The first child out the door immediately scooped up a colored egg only to be sternly told, “Put that back! We want to take pictures of all you kids first!” So of course something got ruined there, and since everything was hidden in plain sight on the white snow, when the pictures were taken and the hunt actually began, the fastest kids scurried out and scooped up the majority of the eggs. I think I wanted Confucius to be there to put out a hand and say to each child, “This is an Easter egg party, let’s slow down and walk around and see how many eggs we can find and have a good time.” Things come in their own time, and they will. Adults can always set up events for children to participate in, roller car derbies for cub scouts, Easter egg hunts, girl scout cookie sales, things to take their minds off the desolation of Winter. Heh, nothing will take minds off of Winter until Spring does come. And it will. Just like I told the old dog.
