Sun and Snow.

It is that time of year, the sun is bursting through the clouds, bringing spring to our doors and yet we are not there quite yet. Oh no, not yet, of course not. It wouldn’t ever be that simple and that nice. So global warming is causing milder air, but also wilder weather extremes. For those who choose to deny climate change, just look and feel, it’s clear.

Just as we start to change over our wardrobes, yes I am pretending I do that, as we search out our spring wear jackets and dump our heavy winter coats, just as we relinquish our boots to the back of the shoe pile and dig out shoes that thrust our ankles out on display. Yes, just as we decide that spring is really actually here, we have tentatively waited, not wanting to fall for it too soon, not wanting to get caught out and be dressed for a warm sunny day only for it to plummet to icy cold droplets. Yes we have waited and then finally declared, with joy , that it is time, that spring is in fact here.

Of course it would be now that the sun vanishes and instead, winter flurries of snow appear. The temperature swings from warm with a windy chill, to freezing with blobs of ice. How does this happen? How did we fall for it? We remember the saying ‘April showers’ and think back to past snow events then, we dared to believe that winter was over, but no, hold your horses, its not over yet, it never is. It is a trick every year, we yearn for the warmth of spring and every year the climate shocks us.

Sunshine and snow, together, it seems beyond possibility, but here it happens before our very eyes. Is it just to remind us that we have no control? That, for all we think we dominate the planet, it is the planet itself that holds all the cards. Mother nature teaches us to respect her workings and know our place. This is a little like chronic illness. whenever we think we have it mastered, it turns on its tale and bites us. We are never in charge, we must respect the disease just as we must respect the planet.

Maybe we can think of it another way, the sun shines even from the depths of a snow storm, like Pandora’s box, the sunshine is rays of hope, shining down to remind us, there is good in the world, not to give in to the dark. Either way we must embrace the two, the snow reflects and amplifies the light and lifts our spirits, the cold climbs through us and we feel alive. Sun and snow together are a balance of winter and spring, as one season signs off and gives space for the next.

So the next time we see sun and snow, lets bow our heads in respect and appreciation, let us marvel at the magnificence of our world and know we will trudge on optimistically.

Chris.xx