Vernal

vernal\VER-nul\

 

 

adjective

 

1 :	of, relating to, or occurring in the spring
2 :	fresh or new like the spring; also : youthful

 

I get a word a day from Webster's in my email.  I mean to print them on index cards and place them around my world in hopes of expanding my vocabulary.  So far all I've done is mentally file them away, but today's word demanded some attention.  As I write this, I'm gazing out the office window to the west where dark clouds seem to be gathering.  I detect a rim of fog, and if I squint I can see what very well could be snow in the mountains above Paris.  New snow.  May Day.

 

Bona fide Brrrrrrrrrr Lakers don't put much stock in spring as a season.  We'd much prefer to acknowledge 3 seasons and be off about our business--bundled up in polar fleece.  Some "Springs" here come and go in a matter of hours--beginning and ending in the time it takes to shake a rug or two.  "Oh no!  I slept through spring!"  "Blasted!  Spring came while I was in the shower??"  "I used my Spring this year to sweep off the deck!"  We can sink our teeth into winter and lollygag us some autumn days away ad nauseum, and summer...now, summer--it brings out the pagan in us all.  We worship it unabashedly.

 

I've made my peace with Spring.  I promise not to torment it if it promises not to torment me.  I don't expect much out of it. Ever.  If it gives me a day here or an hour there, I'll take it.  BUT, I also refuse to be Spring's Fool.  I won't be surprised by its antics--snow right up to (and sometimes ON) the 4th of July, freezing winds to bring in May, buds on the trees a full month after the rest of the planet, ice on windshields, and any and all nasty little black clouds coming out of nowhere anytime anyplace.

 

 

Back to vernal.  I'm double checking that definition.  A closer look reveals no guarantee of warmth or green anything.  Picking out "fresh, new and youthful" as the key words.  I'll get back to you on this, but at first glance I'm suspecting YET AGAIN, that it's all a matter of attitude.  Drat.  I keep coming back to that.  I shall go my merry vernal way today, then, and carry spring in my heart.  I guess.