March and The Promise!

Many are unaware or maybe just don't care, but I for one remember the legends. My parents were excellent at filling me and any other child who happened to hang around with the horror of what could happen if you stepped on a crack or where hair might grow if you did that. It took a lot of ridicule in my early adult life to get me beyond these myths, but the ones I still hold true are the ones about the weather. You see, my folks were like weather gurus. My dad could tell it was going to rain a full 24 hrs before it happened, and this was before the terror they call the weather channel. Mom n Dad knew when winter storms were coming... they were amazing. The one weather legend my Dad always cussed about and touted as completely wrong was March.... "In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb". He'd say, "Lamb my Ass". March never left us with anything other than below normal temperatures and an annual Nor-Easter. Of course now I know that phrase apparently has its origins with the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb, but still.... March is a unique month. We tend to hold our breath waiting.... watching for those first few drops of spring to touch our face and tease our taste buds. A flower here... a blossom there and then WHAM...... Winters back!! Worse than being snatched from our false spring is that now we've missed March and what it's really about. We've oohed and ahhd almost trance like at every morsel of a promise that winter is over, unable to realize how important a transition this is. March is for preparation. My Dad was never idle during this time of year, and neither am I. My childhood reasons for loving March are the same, only my location has changed. Daily temperatures, the sunrise, the sunset, the color of the moon.... its all different in March. I know, you say "but it's different every month"! "None of them offer the promise like March", I reply. Why are those last few days so harsh, so often? To shock us into recognition. We must all be reminded to appreciate what this covenant is about to bestow on us. When Steve and I moved to Harpers Ferry.... it was March 3rd 2001. That month I saw my first perfect moon..... I really saw it. I watched not just MY first sunrise, but what could have only been the FIRST sunrise ever. Its warmth I can still feel upon my face. I saw for the first time flowers bloom and trees blossom and with each passing day I grew more saddened because I knew that March would leave and I would forget. I would forget to appreciate all that was given. I'd take for granted that beautiful sunrise, the moon and how it made the rivers shimmer in the darkness. The dew on the cool grass and all the new smells that would awaken over the next few weeks. This fear forced us to lay at night promising to never let each other take such breathtaking beauty for granted. It came to me almost in a dream. I knew how to make every day in our new home, every sunrise, every full moon, every new bird to the feeder, just like the first one. We would share our home with anyone and everyone. We'd start by inviting the annual parade of thru-hikers to stay at night and camp in our back yard. I leveled off some nice tent sites and posted an ad for free hiker accommodations at the ATC. They started to trickle in 2 at a time. I can still remember our first guests... Harp and Spoon!! It had begun.... for two years we viewed March as the beginning. The start of another season of new friends and friendly faces. Another year of hearing how beautiful the sunrise was and how bright the moon was through the trees. We were never allowed to forget the promise. Our first year we had 162 hikers stay with us and we remember every one. Our second year we were shut down at 67 hikers because of some neighbors who felt dirty hikers would somehow lower their property value. I'm not quite sure how vinyl siding and asphalt shingles can depreciate any more than they do once you purchase them, but none-the-less.... we were closed. I'm reminded of the fun times through old pictures and a guest book I asked every visitor to sign. Memories that will last me a lifetime of March's. A few tents scattered along the hillside.... even a hiker in the shadows. The Cow and the anal one who live behind us, accused our hiker guests of defecating and urinating in the yard between us and them. This of course was not true.... the hikers used our bathroom. Town officials though, with their feeble egos hadn't been asked for permission by us to have guests on our property from time to time, so they demanded we attend a town meeting to discuss these accusations. In protest to my nosey neighbors attempt to discredit the hikers, we placed a toilet in clear view of their deck and used it to ice down drinks. When it wasn't being used as a cooler, it made a nice planter. Sadly we closed our door, and we closed our hearts to the town of Harpers Ferry. It took us several years to overcome the sadness, the anger, the frustration caused by two meddlesome, white picket fence entombed, transplants from Fredneck MD. We're indifferent to them now.... how I wish their two howling barking dogs would find a new home though. We still have guests, but they can't sleep in the yard.... and we still appreciate the promise. What will you bring me this year, March? I'm pretty sure these jewels of the forest were carried in on some unsuspecting hikers boot. Golden Morels..... what a delicious treat each spring and just another yearly reminder of March's Promise. I hope you can understand The Promise and embrace March in all its warmth and fury..... for if you don't..... It's not only the 1st of April that will be the fool.