Spring Fever

This year has been a doozy! I can't remember the last time March was that beautiful.

Weather-wise, we've run the gamut from putting our air conditioners to use in early March to digging out hats and mittens this past week. The lawn mower has already been employed more than once, and now here I am, wondering if the snowbrush is still in the back seat of the car. The kids are just plain lost, not sure whether they should forage in their dressers for shorts or dig out cardigans and flannel. Ah, well. It's par for the course this time of year in Minnesota.

Although I adore the cozy feeling of winter, when early spring rolls around, I’m usually ready for the cold and snow to be done, and look forward to the green of nature as things spring back to life. To celebrate the impending arrival of warm days, bird chatter, and burgeoning blossoms, we made a family visit to the yearly Macy’s Flower Show in downtown Minneapolis. There, one can take in the sights and smells of beautifully designed flower garden displays and kick start the bug to want to plant and grow lovely things.

Each year boasts a new theme (Brasil, Spring is in the Air, Towers of Flowers, etc.), and the kids and I never fail to be mesmerized. Perhaps it’s that first sensory experience of the year of seeing delicate blooms and smelling the fragrant blossoms, but it’s simply magical. Small carpets of lush flowers in every hue stretch out below wondrous displays. Flowers, plants and small trees are carefully placed to create such wonders as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a colorfully enchanting toucan, a floral Eiffel Tower, and many other blossoming architectural creations that spark the imagination and spur on the drive to plant the very moment the weather cooperates.

Whether you make regular trips to an arboretum or greenhouse during the cold months, or simply make do with enjoying your very own house plants, there’s nothing that quite compares to seeing the season’s first tulips popping through the thawing ground. Flowers seem to have their very own little place in our world. They play a vital role in creating an air of celebration at weddings and festivities, they cheer us up when we’re sick, and they remind the special people in our lives that we love them. Perhaps for those of us living in snowy climates, we become especially excited when spring’s first flowers push through the soil toward the sun. Our limited season of flower gardens and window box displays is rather short, so we embrace it fully when it finally arrives.

As May slips closer, I can’t wait for planting season to start. Dark pink petunias, fuchsia and purple vincas, little white bacopas, orange and pink lantanas, verbena in a host of hues, the adorable painted faces of the pansies… oh, late May can’t come fast enough!

As we endure the rainy, windy, and oh-so-unpredictable weather that comes with April, I wish you a verdant spring, heralding a riot of colorful blossoms, and invite you to enjoy some snapshots from the past few Macy’s Flower Shows.

What do you do in early spring to remedy the itch for warmer weather?

Thoughts on Anniversaries

Weddings are festive occasions that celebrate a new union of two people who are in love and eager to begin a new life together. But after the sun has set on this day of silk, taffeta, flowers, buttercream icing, speeches, toasts and first dances, and has arisen on the first day of happily ever after, a union of two people becomes about teamwork to both enjoy and weather the ups and downs that make up marriage. And while life holds precious moments to be shared and celebrated as a couple, it also holds plenty of challenges. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 83% of couples will make it to their fifth wedding anniversary and 55% will celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. By 25 years, only 35% couples will still be together, and only 6% will ring in their golden anniversary (50 years) as a couple.

But enough with the disheartening statistics. My point? With the rise in divorce rates in the past number of decades, celebrating wedding anniversaries is important. They signify another year of a successful partnership and herald a continuation of the happily ever after a couple set out for on their wedding day. Whether it's year number one or twenty-one, an anniversary is worthy of honoring. So, be it your own special day, or that of loved ones or friends, be sure to commemorate an anniversary with a celebration, even if it's a small one.

My first foray into anniversary parties was planning my parents' 25^th anniversary with the help of an older brother. We were in our teens and had the budget to prove it. The celebration consisted of a family dinner at a nice restaurant, a small vase of red carnations, a cake and a gift of an engraved silver tray we picked out from a local jeweler. It wasn't quite renting a hall and hiring a band to entertain droves of my parents' friends and relatives, but it was special nonetheless. After twenty-five years of marriage and eleven kids, I would surmise my parents just wanted a quiet, peaceful evening anyway, without having to talk over the strains of Peter, Paul and Mary covers emanating from a band. Or so I hope!

My first anniversary found my husband and me sharing a rather frostbitten top tier from our wedding cake we had fished out from the back of the freezer and playing Scrabble. We had recently discovered baby number one was on the way and thought going out to dinner would be frivolous spending that could be put to better use on a crib or stroller. Since then, we've spent anniversaries at parent/teacher conferences, coaching, attending meetings, and running kids to piano lessons. That's the thing about marriage and life – it keeps you busy!

We agreed we'd go to Napa Valley for our 5^th anniversary. And then an unexpected tonsillectomy popped up for our son. We told ourselves the following year would work. Until we were paying for more hospital bills following a broken elbow and surgery after a playground fall. Our anniversaries have thus far been signified by movie nights or dinners, with or without the kids, depending on how our schedules shake out. However, I'm not disappointed or upset. I know that my parents didn't make it 45 years by traveling the globe. Someday we'll celebrate our anniversary in a vineyard. Until then, we'll continue with the everyday journey that will get us through the years of little ones, busy schedules, reallocated finances, and the like. And yes, I know we'll look back on all of this and miss it.

Until then, whether celebrating anniversaries means a whirlwind tour of Europe, a holiday in the surf and sun, or just a quiet dinner amid the hustle and bustle of life, remember that each anniversary translates into successfully continuing a dream. Acknowledging another year of togetherness is reason to celebrate.