THE JOY OF SEASONS
When we lived in Vermont, we discovered they had two seasons – winter and mud. Well, I guess you could say they have an extra season – foliage season – where people from all over drive the winding roads, viewing the unbelievably beautiful colors from turning leaves.
When I lived in Louisiana, I found 5 seasons – the extra one being love bug season. What, you ask, is a love bug? Oh, you just haven’t lived until you lived through love bug season. The love bug spends its entire live copulating with its mate – thus the “romantic” nickname. Their swarms can number in the hundreds of thousand, and when they hit your windshield, are almost impossible to remove.
I remember purchasing a lot of gallons of windshield washer fluid until I got smart and made my own mixture. I also had T-tops on my car and for sure was not able to remove them during love bug season – not unless I wanted them in my clothes, hair and teeth! You do have to wash them off your vehicle fairly quickly or their acidity can pit and etch car paint and chrome! I kid you not!
Here where I live now, we have 7 seasons– winter, summer, spring, and fall – skunk, armadillo and turtle. Hey, I’m serious here! There were 8 seasons at one time. We used to have tarantula season where, for some reason, on one stretch of the road going to my parents’ house, those huge spiders crossed the road.
When I first visited here and saw this blob leaping across the road, I yelped and asked, “What the heck is THAT?” Dad was so calm, “Oh, it’s just a tarantula.” I was a bit freaked out, as you can imagine. I got this creepy feeling they could leap up through the bottom of the car and come out through the air vent or something. Or that if I ran them over, the spider would somehow cause a flat tire, then I’d be stuck and they would swarm the car to get even (yeah, yeah, I saw that stupid sci-fi movie where the guy washed a spider down the drain and it kept coming back, bigger and bigger each time).
HEY – I was a bona-fide city slicker back then and I did not do tarantulas. I also read somewhere that certain tarantulas, which have a body length of up to almost 3 inches and can eat small birds. These were huge spiders. Do you even have to wonder why I avoided them at all costs? Thank God, after the farmer cleared the trees and field for hay, the tarantulas seem to have disappeared.
When I moved here permanently, I began to notice the other seasons. It began with skunk. First comes aroma – peee-you! It was as if they are right outside the bedroom window but they could be miles down the road. Sometimes it will wake me up in the middle of the night, it is so odoriferous! That I hate more than anything because there is nothing you can do except hunker down under the blanket and pray you fall back asleep.
You begin to notice them on the side of the road. Every year, without fail, skunks wander away from their safe zone – and then hubby and I open the season officially by singing “Dead Skunk”.* Oh come on, you know you love that silly song! Here’s a link to memory lane - http://youtube.com/watch?v=8-tb8sblCks
Then comes armadillo season and the discovery of the warped sense of humor people around here have. I noted the season when we were driving to town – armadillos lying around everywhere. Now a dead armadillo on its back is not an unusual sight around here but when you come across one holding a plastic soft-drink bottle or beer can, you wonder if you have wandered into the twilight zone.
Then comes turtle season. This is a hard season to deal with because for some reason, every driver thinks they need to avoid the little turtles crossing the road. I don’t know why we don’t want to run them over. They are more prolific than the armadillo or skunk, too. And it really is rare to see a dead one – they are so small and struggle so hard to get across the street! Maybe it is that sense of acknowledging that struggle and relating to it. “You go, turtle! I hope you get where you’re going just like I pray I get where I want to go, too, someday!!” Or maybe it is not that deep and it is more that we are afraid the shell will cause a flat tire!
So while I sort of live this Disney life I talked about before, it sometimes morphs into the twilight zone on occasion. I do have to say I’ve experienced some really strange things living here in the boonies of mid-America. Some I could have done without (skunks) while others cause food for thought…
…just where was that leaping tarantula going? Is he going to come back? Will he show up at my house someday? Are they gone for good??? And don’t even get me started on the snakes!
I love my life and always want to remember to really SEE it and not let it flow by without notice. Joy is living fully in your world, paying attention to all the wonderful things around you that make each day precious. So many people zip through life, never noticing a sunset or stopping to pay attention to beauty in whatever form it takes.
With life being so short – STOP! Take a few minutes each day to be thankful for that day and notice the world around you. You can find something good in an over- abundance of bad news and bad reports. It is out there – if you just take the time to find it.
**(by written and performed by
Loudon Wainwright III)
