It’s different this March. Instead of that feeling of going into the dark dark tunnel of 2020, I feel like 2021 is very very near the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Remember asking, “Are we there yet?” as a kid on a car trip that was getting really really tedious? Well, I think we are…just about .
March … the arrival of spring
Green buds are popping on the mesquite trees. Our lemon and lime trees show the promise of harvests to come with tiny buds. Our neighbor’s grapefruit tree is laden with fruit. With our recent snow (yes, snow), some of the cacti have decided to stand up a little straighter. The Tucson days are warm and sunny enough to let spring in through wide-open windows and patio doors. The feeling of that air coming in through the front door and out the back patio is absolutely refreshing! Also refreshing is the lowering numbers of COVID cases, and the lessening of “scary” reports. It’s not perfect- never will be and I don’t believe it will be like it was. I cannot recall that ever happening with anything. But Mother Nature has been consistent in her ability to show up for seasonal events like spring.
Daylight Saving Time (DST)
Clocks change everywhere in the US but Hawaii and AZ (except in the Navajo Nation which does change). When I want to talk to my sister, niece or nephew along the East Coast (Eastern Time Zone), it’s three hours difference. Then I have to do the clock thing actually looking at my analog clock as my finger goes around in the air – one, two, three, times. But now my friends in California (Pacific Time Zone) are the same as we are. Alaska and Hawaii – I Googled and got info about being Pacific time Zone minus 1 hour- but wouldn’t you think they get their own zone name? Anyone? And the folks in the middle (Central Time Zone)…
Vaccines- 
We (my husband and twin and I) got our second vaccine. There was a different atmosphere at the second vaccine compared to our first time. At this second shot folks were chatting with each other on line, automatically socially distancing, speaking a bit louder and enunciating more clearly to be understood behind a mask. Some eager beavers were taking off jackets as they made their way to the designated shot seat. The post-shot room was one of the full-size conference halls at the Convention Center. The same over-sized digital clock was visible for anyone to see when the 15-minute wait was up, spaced folding chairs in the entire room. But there was more chatter. My twin sister, and husband and I felt like Santa going off in his sleigh as we left, waving with our designated shot arm, and exclaiming ‘ere we strode out of sight, “A great day to all, and to all- many good nights!”
Birthday Month
My Finn and I have accumulated 148 years. Last year (2020) we had a change of plans from celebrating at Molino Basin in the Coronado Forest (at a gorgeous open campsite with grills, picnic tables, a ramada, and trails) because of the pandemic. Now in 2021, we weren’t at “the end of the tunnel” so it was just the two peas and their pod having a celebration dinner and “blowing” out the candles with a candle snuffer. Happy to be able to be with my pod. I just know this next trip around the sun will be really different and in a good good way! Happy days to everyone!
Smiling behind my mask
Ethel Lee-Miller blogs regularly about people, the power of words, and the writing life. She’s retired from professional writing gigs after 30 years of teaching, coaching, editing, and gathering writers to publicly share their work. She is the author of Thinking of Miller Place, and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships. She writes to inspire, to connect with folks, and for the pure joy of it. Ethel enjoys sharing stories at Odyssey Storytelling, Zoom gatherings, and anywhere there’s a mic. Now that she is FV (fully vaccinated) she is looking forward to expanding her world in person and place by place.
