In the Air
March is such a transitional month. This time last year I was painting and trying very hard not to panic. This year’s liminality has been a bit less dramatic, less involving us directly and more the standard fluctuations as Ostara decides if she’s actually ready to get out of bed yet or not.
So we did things like outdoor ice skating—in short sleeves, while carefully avoiding the widening pool of water in the middle of the rink which was outpacing the employees’ ability to squeegee it away. I went to an art museum event in a downpour, and then a couple of weeks later showed up an hour before a different museum opened (really, 11:30am seems rather late) and it was nice enough for me to knit in the nearby sculpture garden while I waited. We had the windows open night and day for an entire week, then tightly closed the week after, due to the discovery that one child and one adult are deeply seasonally allergic to something that’s here but wasn’t in Arkansas (probably the profusion of white blooming… Bradford pears? cherries? that are near our home).
My partner had some late work nights and a few days out of town, so the kids and I started playing board games on the stairs to get us through the last hour before bedtime. My middle declared that going to the grocery store is his second favorite errand (the dentist is his favorite. We found a really good pediatric dentist). The library near us finished renovations and the little one enjoyed their new kids space so much that he asked if we could come back again the very next day (we compromised with weekly visits).
Overall it was good month of solidifying growth and noticing the stability that’s come from the rituals and routines we’ve been developing over the past year. I’m curious to see how our second year here goes. There are a few changes that I’m aware are coming, but also traditions to establish and places to revisit, too.