LIGHT.  My dad loved to soak up sunshine, like a lizard on a hot rock.  My mother always had at least two chores for him to do before he could take it easy in the sun. He watched the weather on the news at eleven p.m. to plan out his chances of seeing sunshine.  Winter, in Michigan, is usually overcast.  He ate lunch in his car with the door open to the sunshine even in winter.  But, today is a glorious sunny day and it is not nearly spring.  It is warm and not windy.

I miss my dad on such a day as this.  He would love it.  I think he is in Heaven with sunny days every day.  We lived in Florida for six years, and the sun can almost blind you in the sunshine state.  With the sunshine, I had a few nice days in the pool to soak up the sun myself.  My mother, however, is looking down at me from above. She lines up mental chores for me to do:  dishes, laundry, making beds, cleaning toilets…before I truly relax in the sunshine.

People are happier today.  It has been one of those gray and overcast winters without even a postcard snowfall.  It has been muddy and dismal. But, today it is springtime and it soaks into your bones.  The trees are budding, the dogs are stretched out in their backyards, and the inside cats are doing the same in the sunbeams that come in the windows.

The strange eerie light is the sunshine today.  The robins have arrived and the geese are returning in flying, honking squadrons.  Enjoy it.  We have known snowstorms in March, even April.  That is what makes today’s weather so special.