Seasons of Love

As much as I'd surely love to live in the "perfect" climate 365 days a year, as I was running this morning, I was thinking of all the things that I love about living in New England. Sure, all of these things happen elsewhere.  But I honestly don't think I'd appreciate them as much if I lived them all the time, year 'round.  As much as I enjoy each season, I'm happy to see the next one 'round the bend.

WINTER
The first snowfall of the season.
The way my kids' cheeks look after playing outside in the snow.
Those really big snowflakes that you are sure must be fake as they fall from the sky.
When you learn that you turned on your defrost early enough and you don't have to scrape your car windows at all.
The sound of the heat coming out from the radiators.
An unexpected snow day.
Those last few minutes of warm cuddle time before starting the day.
Listening to H and M count the snowflakes that land on their tongues.  (May they never be too old to stop doing this.)
No longer having to worry about ticks. 
When you've run far enough that you can take off your gloves because you're "so hot".
Finding new animal tracks in the snow in the morning.
Listening to G, H and M re-tell their sledding stories to me.

SPRING
Running in a warm rain.
Opening up our windows for the first time.
Jeans and flipflops.
Realizing that there's no more salt and icemelt marks on my floor.
Waking up to birds singing after a quiet winter.
The sound of snow melting off of the house.
Seeing all the local runners on the street the day after the Boston Marathon.
The smell of new mulch.

SUMMER
The perfect beach day.
Heads of hair filled with sand and sunblock.
Watching the Red Sox on tv, knowing that so many other people are doing exactly the same thing.
Sleeping with the windows open.
Walking in to a nice cool centrally aired house after a day of too much heat.
The sound of the rain fall on the roof of our house down the cape.
Daytime thunderstorms.
Fireflies and butterflies.
Watching and listening to the girls play softball in our backyard with G.

FALL
When the girls come in and they smell like "fall".
Shorts and sweatshirts.
Pumpkins, apple crisp and hayrides.
Chili, cornbread and red sauce.  (Well, that's a year-round love, but I mostly associate it with the fall.)
Sitting by the fire in our backyard with friends.
Listening to H and M laugh when they can see their breath outside for the time in a long time.
Needing a blanket to watch tv.
Not having to worry about sunburns.
Realizing that you have no more itchy mosquito bites.
How nice our yard looks after raking (...until it has to be raked again...three days later).
The crunch, crunch, crunch of leaves.

I'm "done" with winter.  But in reality, we still have quite a ways to go. We'll make it through.  We always do. And next year at this time, we'll do it all over again.  (As my gram would say, "God willing.")