seasons

Seasons have been the talk of the town: a warm winter, early spring, late snow, a wet summer, not enough cold, floods, droughts, fires... these are the things that people talk about in my life at the moment.

I'm back in Chardon, Ohio, staying with my friend Des and her lovely family. This is the third time  I've been in the house, and the third season I've seen here.

I first came here in the 'Fall' (which I will probably always call autumn, no matter how long I spend in this part of the world) when the leaves were gorgeous and bright. Pumpkins and squash decorated the house and the table, and we enjoyed the evening for its warmth, knowing as we all did that these long dusky nights would soon be over for another year. I arrived with Nadine on our way to a conference in Columbus and we shared dinner together before heading on up the interstate.

I then came during winter, when the ground was covered in thick snow and Matiu made a snowman as tall as himself. Megan, Des and I spent hours and hours talking and laughing, and occasionally crying (happy tears! happy tears!) and Matiu played with Sam and Jordan and, when he came home, Kevin. We drove through acres and acres of ice and snow, sledded, saw deer and their gentle tracks, and enjoyed the warmth inside even more when we came in from the cold outside.

And tonite I've arrived with Mum and Dad in Spring: flowers, buds, blossoms arriving; a later end of the day; a quick trip out to the car at 1am that doesn't require thick mittens and heavy boots. This morning we noticed the tree in my backyard in Toronto is finally starting to sprout tiny bright green bundles of leaves, earlier today we saw Niagara Falls surrounded by yellow tulips and daffodils, and now this. Now here.

Cycles, seasons, the endless turns that give our lives shape. The lines we draw in the sand. The ways we remember who we are. The process of rejuvenation always held within a larger pattern of beginnings and endings at every moment. Te tau okioki: a season.