When I was growing up, we used to have a riddle that asked: “If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?”
The answer: “Pilgrims.”
What I am truly hoping April brings is some warmer weather.
I made a trip to Ohio during the second week in March. The five days I visited with my mother, temperatures rarely went above freezing, and we had snow showers two days.
For those who have never lived above the Mason-Dixon Line, a snow shower is like a rain shower — only with snow. Look out the window one minute, and snow is falling. Look out that same window five or 10 minutes later — no snow.
The winds blew and the “feels like” temperature plunged to a bone-chilling 19 degrees. Every time I see a weather report like those I saw in Ohio that week, I remember why I no longer live there.
But coming home was not much better. As I watched the weather forecast one evening, I saw Kinston was in danger of breaking a record low that has stood since 1914. Talk about a three-dog night. Unfortunately, I have no dogs.
We have gotten to the point that temps in the 50’s feel positively balmy.
But today is April 1, and I am hoping with the new month will come warmer temps. I like to grill, but I do not want to stand over the grill and warm my hands when I should be cooking hotdogs and hamburgers.
I want the flowers to be safe from winter advisories and freeze watches and warnings. I am tired of a thin sheet of frost covering my windshield in the hours before dawn. I would like to sit on my front stoop and enjoy a cup of coffee without shivering so much that I commit coffee abuse.
I have lived in the Old North State long enough to know we always have a cold snap around Easter. Easter has now come and gone, so I am hoping we can snap out of those Canadian air masses vacationing in North Carolina.
I thought we were having a mild winter until January hit. January, February and March seemed especially cold to me this year. Was that perception just the way I experienced things, or was my perception true?
We have two months before hurricane season cranks up — two months, I hope, of sunny skies and pleasant temps, budding trees and blooming flowers. After the first quarter of the year, we deserve pleasant weather.
Lewis Grizzard, one of my favorite writers, once said: “Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.”
I hope that yawn has ended.
Maybe now we can get down to the business of a new cycle springing to life. April brings promise of life renewed and energy imbued.
One wit observed that April begins with a day celebrating fools, culminates with a day to file tax returns, and ends with “May Day!”
April is a wonderful month. For example, today will have roughly 12 hours and 30 minutes of daylight. By the end of this month, on April 30, we will have an hour more daylight than we have today — an hour more to work, to walk, to drink in spring’s lushness.
Of course, since today is April 1st, perhaps we should also remember Mark Twain’s words: “The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.”
Here’s to warm weather, longer days, and pleasant nights.
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at mparker16@suddenlink.net or in care of this newspaper.