March Right In Why Don't You

I’ve never been a big fan of the month of March.

Yes, it’s the bridge between Ohio’s cold and warm seasons, but it always has seemed to me to be such a very long bridge. I’m pleased that the extra Leap Day we experience every four years occurs in our short month of February as compared to March. This month seems to be plenty long enough at a slow 31 days. I sometimes feel like Bill Murray in the comedy movie Groundhog Day where every single day I awake seems to still be March.

Perhaps this March will be far different from the typical March as we have enjoyed an exceptionally mild winter by Ohio standards. It is such a long middle ground that very gradually ushers out winter and welcomes in spring. And yet, by the end of the month not much has changed as it might appear on its surface. If one looks closely though beneath the surface a little bit, the end of March is busy with the cycle of life getting ready to emerge out into the open.

March is a tease.

One day it may be a balmy 65 or 70 degrees, followed next by a cold and clammy 43 degrees. In Ohio, one only needs to wait a few brief moments for the weather to change, according to a traditional adage. March plays with our mind and toys with our heart. We can hardly dislike the month of March if in fact we do not learn to love it a little, or a lot.

I’ve come to accept that March is a transition period that needs to be better appreciated. It adds structure to my life and is a reminder that indeed, patience is a good thing. I still don’t care for the month – instead preferring the seemingly endless period of summer in June, July, August – but I understand that it must be so. And yes, I understand that to accept March is to better appreciate that which follows.