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Spring has sprung!

March 22, 2011 Nicole Boyhouse Luckiness

Well, not really.

I grew up here and March is not, to me, a spring month. It’s a WINTER month. My birthday is in late April and that is when spring begins for me, which is not to say it won’t snow after said birthday, but it’s spring snow, rather than winter snow. Big difference. In the event that I move out of this city into a milder climate – one day, please, one day! – I will be stunned, surely, by flowers and grass and leaves in March but for now, it’s all about shovelling snow.

It’s easy to get down at this time of year, the sky is grey, the snow is on the ground and has been for five months, magazines everywhere are advertising spring fashions that I might be able to wear in another three months or so, if I’m lucky and it doesn’t snow, but yesterday I was walking the kids to school and I looked at their fleece toques. The snowflakes on them were perfect; they were perfectly formed, I could see all the individual designs, they were beautiful. I felt almost poetic, it was a lovely moment. I showed the boys each of their brother’s toque, and we all marvelled for a moment. I talked about every snowflake being unique; although truly that is not something anyone could ever prove, no matter how many resources you pumped into that kind of hypothesis, you could never, ever prove it. Although I suppose you could never disprove it either. It makes me feel someone like a snowflake agnostic.

Having a positive outlook is so important. That’s not to say we should all walk around chirping annoyingly about every! great! thing! in! the! world! because wow, would that be annoying. But I was reading (in O magazine, don’t JUDGE me people, I have a subscription, it was a gift subscription from my mother-in-law) about four things people have control over in terms of their health: not smoking, having a healthy diet, exercising, and having a positive, optimistic outlook.

I love that! I also truly believe that positivity and optimism can heal. My father-in-law, ten years ago, was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was a man typical of his generation; he had not been to the doctor in probably forty years, and he had been experiencing symptoms for many years prior to his diagnosis. At the time his tumour was the size of a grapefruit, it had started to metastasize, it was encroaching on organs, he was given six months to a year to live.

He didn’t believe it.

He went through aggressive treatment and all throughout he kept saying, “I am going to be healthy at your wedding.” When we got married – nine years ago tomorrow – he was healthy. You would have never known he was ill. Amazing the doctors, he recovered and regained his strength and until recently was cancer free. But that’s another story.

"5" Comments

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Carmen
March 22, 2011 at 4:33 pm

Thanks! My birthday as you know is late March and I am always hopefully that it will be warm and snow free. This year there are still 4ft snow piles on either side of the driveway so highly unlikely. But it was great to read your post and get some perspective:)

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happygeek
March 22, 2011 at 4:44 pm

The snow yesterday was lovely. The flakes were gorgeous.

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Jessica
March 22, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Snowflake agnostic is hilarious. A positive outlook is one of the few things we can control in our lives so it is important. I try to have a positive outlook on life even though sometimes it is hard especially when I want sunshine outside but it is snowing.

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Shell
March 22, 2011 at 6:38 pm

Wow, what an amazing story about positive thinking.

Though p.s. I won’t tell you about our weather today. 😉

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Laila - SignificantlySimple.com
March 22, 2011 at 6:35 pm

I love the spring snows in Calgary, those I can handle. It’s the bone chilling, ‘kids can’t play outside because it is too damn cold’ kinda snowy weather that gets me all twitchy! And you are right about attitude and having a positive spirit. 12 years ago my mom had been in the hospital for months due to kidney problems. Anyway, the dr’s told her at one point, she had just a week or so left to live, her body was starting to shut down (it was) and that we/she should just stop dialysis etc. She laughed at the doctors and said “I don’t think so!” and looked at my dad and said “I’m certainly not done with you yet either!” and went on to live another 2 years by sheer strength of spirit and her amazing outlook on life. :o) Attitude is everything. ~Laila :o) ♥~Laila :o)

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