Spring 2024

  Spring came early this year- on March 19th at 10:06 pm CDT to be exact. This was the earliest the equinox has occurred since 1896. The date can vary between the 19th and the 21st, but it won't happen again on the 21st till 2101. The last time it was on the 21st was 2007. I would have made more of a big deal of it had I know it was so unusual.   

  But why doesn't the equinox just stick to the 20th if that's when it mostly occurs. It would if we could get the earth to complete its orbit around the sun in exactly 365 days. But Mother Earth is old and she's slowing down. She needs an extra six hours and nine minutes to get around the track. This was never a problem until we invented the calendar. We've got leap years to keep the calendar up to date so when it's a leap year, the 19th of March will be designated equinox day.

  Spring is shifty in other ways too. We're glad to see winter go, but spring neglects to close the door, and winter,  like an old lion, will stick his paw back in and ruin our plans. And spring is a slattern. She pulls away the snowy tarps and leaves the rubbish of winter for us to pick up. She takes her time drying up her muddy puddles and we must go around with dirty cuffs and hems for weeks.

 But the weeks do pass and the earth tips more and  more sunward. Spring uses the extra time to usher back the snowbirds and puff out the buds. She coaxes out the foolish crocuses, only to let them freeze the same night. The light is relentless and spring finally cleans up her act and we slowly remember why we love her.

  Spring is not summer. Shakespeare had spring in mind when he asked,  

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines…

I'll stop there. He's making me think of fall. Fall is a long way off. Mustn't think.

Google Doodle for March 19, celebrating Nowruz, the ancient Persian New Years, occurring on the first day of spring.