March is an interesting month. It serves as the bridge between Winter and Spring. No other month is so full of transitions. One day it snows and the next day it is warm and sunny.
You could say that March is predictably unpredictable!
Most people like to think that their life will follow a steady path. The bumps and roadblocks that crop up are more than annoying, they can be scary too.
They often cause not only stress, but also sadness and pain. So, March tends to rank low on the list of favorite months. Because the old saying: “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” is highly accurate. March rarely follows a pattern. It just does whatever it wants to, whenever it wants to.
This has always been the way with March. Interspersed throughout this blog are quotes about March written by famous authors. Apparently, they too recognized the peculiarities of March.
“March was an unpredictable month, when it was never clear what might happen. Warm days raised hopes until ice and grey skies shut over the town again.”
– Tracy Chevalier
I happen to like March. In between the rainy days there are signs that spring is coming. Besides, it’s my birthday month and you’re never too old to get excited about birthdays!
“How terrible a time is the beginning of March. In a month there will be daffodils and the sudden blossoming of orchards, but you wouldn’t know it now. You have to take spring on blind faith.”
– Beatriz Williams
I love the above quote; “You have to take spring on blind faith.” That’s the wonderful characteristic of March. After days and days of rainy gray days, you have to have faith that the sun will come again. March teaches me a lot about keeping faith alive.
“In March the soft rains continued, and each storm waited courteously until its predecessor sunk beneath the ground.”
– John Steinbeck
I’m one of those weird people who love rainy days, but even I get tired of the endless dark and gloomy weather. Any kind of variance is welcomed. Last week I had a cold and I was exhausted. I was stuck in a chair with no energy to do anything. Outside the window though, an unexpected snowstorm kept me entertained all day. The big fluffy flakes were a joy to watch. It didn’t matter that spring is supposed to arrive in March. The snow brought peace into my heart.
“The stormy March has come at last, With winds and clouds and changing skies; I hear the rushing of the blast That through the snowy valley flies.”
– William C. Bryant
People who visit our area are surprised to find out that the natives rarely, if ever, use an umbrella. Instead, rain jackets with hoods and/or rain hats suffice. We are also number one in the US for sunglass sales. Why? Because our weather changes so fast. If we used an umbrella we’d have to put it up and take it down all day. Likewise, we rarely use sunglasses and by the time we need them again, we have lost them and have to buy new ones.
“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
It feels like two seasons are battling in March, each one fighting to have control. First, winter wins and then spring jumps ahead. The battle continues throughout the month. For those who prefer one season over the other, it can be a frustrating game to watch.
“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.”
– Jean Hersey
Still, it can’t be ignored that the March days are growing longer. Even if we have weeks of rain, the daylight lasts longer than it did in the winter. I call it “light gray”. And it is preferrable to the darkness we had in the earlier winter months.
“March, when days are getting long, Let thy growing hours be strong to set right some wintry wrong.”
– Caroline May
Emily Dickinson wrote about the spring light and it is true that spring has an almost fluorescent sheen to it. All the bright new growth that surrounds us has its own light that can’t be dimmed even by the rains.
“A light exists in Spring
Not present in the year at any other period
When March is scarcely here.”
– Emily Dickinson
The writer of Anne of Green Gables also waxed poetic about March.
“March came in that winter like the meekest and mildest of lambs, bringing days that were crisp and golden and tingling, each followed by a frosty pink twilight which gradually lost itself in an elf land of moonshine.”
– L.M. Montgomery
March is the defiant month, a month that writes its own rules and refuses to follow a pattern. Rain, warm sunny days, snow, March has it all and tosses out weather with no rule or order. For some, March is just a month that must be endured. For others, it’s an exhilarating ride into spring.
“It was March. The days of March creeping gustily on like something that man couldn’t hinder and God wouldn’t hurry,”
– Enid Bagnold
I like to think the Bible talks about March too.
Song of Solomon 2:11-12 says:
“for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.”
And Hosea 6:3:
“Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
All of us will probably never fully agree on the month of March. And I think willful March is fine with that.
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Read more of Ann’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
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