Lunch With a Loved One

Liv, Pink and Addie at recess

Today was Lunch With a Loved One at Olivia's school. I was so flattered to learn that she considered me to be a loved one.

It was a beautiful day, uncharacteristically warm for mid-March.

We had lunch with Olivia and a few of her friends, then we went out for recess. This was so fun! I loved getting to see Olivia in her school. I always wonder what my people do when they're away from me and today I got a little glimpse. I loved seeing her classroom and joining her for lunch in the cafeteria. I especially enjoyed recess. I'm told this is not uncommon.

School looks like an awesome way to pass a day.

The Wearin' O' The Green

As today was St. Patrick's Day, I donned my sparkly green hat and headed out for an afternoon (yes, I said afternoon) of green beer and all things Irish. I don't believe I have any Irish in my bloodline, but I'm told everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and that's good enough for me!

I drank a couple green beers.

Acquired some nifty new bling.

And made some new friends.

It was an extremely fun afternoon and I'm hoping there will be more like it. People paid a lot of attention to me, as they tend to do when I go out, and I have to admit: I really like the attention.

I was paying attention to what people were wearing. There were folks of all ages who went all out - like my friends pictured above. There was every shade of green imaginable. Some folks just wore a little, some folks wore it head to toe. There were folks stopping in on their lunch hour wearing subtle pistachio dress shirts or a tie with a single green strip running through it sitting next to folks who'd dyed their hair green and were wearing 2 foot tall beer mug hats. But they were all drinking beer at noon!

What a day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Signs of Spring

I love watching how people react to those first signs of spring. The first warm day or two, the first robin sighting, spring bulbs coming through the newly warmed earth's surface... all of these things happen every year. We know they're coming, they're not a surprise. And yet they are a gift and we have a tendency to receive them as such.

People in general are just happier to see the sun shining and to see winter coming to a close. Ironically, people have the same reaction in the fall when the air starts to smell different and the leaves start to change color and they start to need a sweater to handle the new crispness in the air.

Yep, spring and fall are certainly the most celebrated and anticipated seasons. Winter is long and cold. Summer is long and hot. Spring and fall are short, and sweet, and beautiful with their promise of change.

Spring is particularly beautiful with its promises of renewal. Every major religion celebrates some sort of rite of spring. Pagans celebrate rites of spring. It is really quite universal - this need to acknowledge this season of hope and rebirth; based more, it seems, on our very humanness than on the faith into which we were or weren't raised.

So welcome, spring! I look forward to warmer, sweeter days with people who are feeling warmer, kinder and sweeter.

Bring it on!