Those Sneaky Seasons

By G. E. Shuman


I have been thinking lately, about the seasons.  I guess that means I have too much time on my hands, or, perhaps, that for me too much time has gone by. I know that sounds like a contradiction.  It’s just that spring has now completely sprung; flowers are forming, trees are budding, grass is growing, and even mowers have begun mowing in our neighborhood.  I can‘t help but notice those things.  Last winter was a strange one here in the North, to be sure; milder than any other I can recall, and spring came early, as you know.  There was no huge shifting from winter to spring this year.  This time around, we just sort of slid from colder, darker days into warmer, brighter ones without much fanfare, or even much melting snow.  I did enjoy those milder-than-usual months since fall.  My snow blower might as well have winter-vacationed in Florida, as I didn’t use it, not even once.  I have never enjoyed owning that machine so much.  My son in law Adam once told me: “A snow blower is like life insurance.  You need it, but you never want to use it.”  I wish I had said that one first.
Yes, spring sort of snuck up on me this time, but I’m now thinking that this is not so unusual at all.  Sultry summer seems to always do the same, followed by fall, and then winter.  The seasons are tricky things, you know.  Tricky, tricky, tricky things. Yes, the days are getting noticeably longer now, but it is happening very gradually, very sneakily, and will continue to do so, right up until the moment they begin getting shorter again, so silently, and soooo sneakily.  Spring will soon simply turn to summer, and the tomato plants I have just started will suddenly have green fruit.  Several weeks later those green balls will be red. Several weeks after that they will be in my refrigerator and my salads, just as others were, only last year.  Then the cooler, darker days will slowly creep back, and we will wonder where summer has gone.  Big orange pumpkins that are now only seeds, will be everywhere.
Life is short.  There is no doubt about that. Time does fly when you’re having fun, and it flies even faster when you’re having grandkids.  I have heard that years pass more quickly for older people, because each year is a smaller percentage of the total time they have lived.  I’m not sure if I believe that, but it seems to make sense.  I do believe that we don’t always notice those sneaky seasons as they approach, stay a short while, and then leave again.  I hope we realize that as they do so, they are not simply a repeat of the four seasons of all previous years.  All is not the same.  This year we are a little older than last.  Some of us are a little grayer, (This assumes that grayer is possible.),  but, hopefully, a little wiser.  The wrinkles are a bit deeper, the eyes, perhaps, a bit weaker.  Children grow up, graduations happen; so do weddings and those wonderful grandchildren.
Don’t be fooled by the seasons as they roll around again, each one creeping up on you, just as it did last year.  Seasons may seem cyclical, but life is not. Life is ever-changing and never repeating.  This time last year no longer exists; this time next year never has existed, yet.  Enjoy today, and cherish this sneaky springtime as if it were the only one we have,  because that‘s exactly what it is.

After the Sugar and Plastic

By G. E. Shuman
 I remember, somewhat strangely, what I think of as being the ‘remainders’ of holidays past, sometimes as much as I remember the days themselves.  This, likely, is a bad thing, and probably comes from my many years in retail management, along with our own big family celebrations of those holidays.  Families have always had a certain amount of ‘clean up’ to do after any of the major holidays, and stores have many times more of that cleanup.  If you think it’s work to pack decorations away, try doing it a thousand times over, quantity-wise. That’s what people in retail are faced with, after every single holiday. I have always disliked decorating, both at home and at work, and have always doubly-disliked ‘un’-decorating.  When my older kids were little, ‘tinsel’ was something that everyone decorated their Christmas tree with, and something that everyone sucked up with their vacuum cleaner, at least until the following summer.  At the department stores I managed, Christmas items like tinsel were packed away, and reordered before even  Easter had arrived.  Holidays really were a never-ending story.  And, speaking of Easter...

Easter is one of the holidays that I always think of as a 'sugar and plastic' day.  Christmas is big, and in most homes the decorations are stored and saved until 'next year'.  Thanksgiving is mostly a big meal, and, hopefully, some big thankfulness.  But Easter is different.  For kids it is largely celebrated with sugar and plastic.  There are plastic eggs for the Easter egg hunt, and even plastic grass to put in plastic Easter baskets, for those eggs when they are found.  There are lots of sugar sources, like jelly beans, marshmallow peeps, and, of course, big chocolate bunnies.  I always thought it was funny, that 'filled' baskets had hollow bunnies.  Yes, for most kids, Easter is about eggs, those hollow bunnies, and fun but hollow stories.
 Now it’s over for another year.  If you are in an average American home as you read this column, you can probably look around the room you are in, right now, and see some now-empty plastic eggs.  Hey mom’s and dads, don’t despair that another holiday has ended, and your kids are one Easter closer to being grown and gone.  I have very good news.
 Firstly, I hope that the kids in your home have been taught the true meaning of Easter; that it is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, of his full payment for their sin, and of the free gift of eternal life.  If they haven’t been taught this, show your kids one of those hollow, once- filled, but now empty eggs.  Tell them that, right now, in Jerusalem, there is a once filled, but now empty tomb.

 Parents, you know, you don’t have to kill off the Easter bunny in your child’s imagination.  God has always had room for fun stories.  Just make sure that they know the true story of Easter.  And you don’t have to wait for another Easter to do it.  Sunday is just around the corner.  Take your kids to church. They’re worth it.  If you don’t know where a good church is, that‘s okay. I know where there are several, right in our area.  Write to me.  I’d love to direct you. vtpenner@gmail.com