Spring Serenity

There are so many signs of spring: robins, melting slush, crocuses peeking through snow, extra daylight. My favorite is clusters of neighbors standing outside chatting. Catching up. Savoring the changing seasons. Lamenting the pile of leaves abandoned last November because the city trucks were needed to plow nine inches of snow. The snow melted, but the leaves remain. Children’s bikes emerge as they race between houses. Mittens and scarves that once decorated snowmen lie in mud.

Chatting with the neighbors is a fabulous welcome home from our Spring Break in Phoenix. A record-breaking week of 100-105 degrees. The meteorologists alarmed everyone with alerts. The residents stayed inside. We flew across the country to be outside.

So we drank lots of water and ignored the alerts. There is a reason my Swedish and Irish ancestors settled in the Midwest. Our pasty skin sucked up sunscreen like greedy parched camels. And we still had to find a pharmacy to buy aloe.

What’s wrong with Noxzema anyway?

My 17 year old rejected my offer of Noxzema, my life-long cure all for all skin ailments. His google search told him Noxzema is just abrasive chemicals and aloe is the smarter sunburn choice.

We explored animatronic dinosaurs, Scottsdale’s Western Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum. We found new favorites at Cupbop, Waffle House and Biscuits Cafe. We got good at savoring our daily ice cream quickly to keep it from dripping on our shirts and shoes.

Shuffleupagus - a loving term coined for short armed family members struggling to shuffle the euchre cards.

My favorite place was the shade of the hotel patio. I drank my morning coffee there relishing the humidless 77 degrees versus home where it was 35 degrees. Every chance I got I took a book out there to read or a notebook to write. After our evening swims we played cards there under the twinkle lights.

Reading, sunshine and ice cream. My perfect Spring Break.

Now it is April. National Poetry Month. I get to participate in my sixth 30 Day Poetry Challenge at Madison College. A class I first took to get my middle-aged self writing again. A class I thought was merely a good exercise. A class that has given me new friends who pointed out my true voice and have given me invaluable encouragement. A class that turned me into a poet. Celebrate with me by reading and writing a poem or two.

Pages Bound Into Serenity
I can be content anywhere
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
I love Arizona in March.
I can spend all day outside
in short sleeves
reading
writing.
I am content
in the shade
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
I have a cellphone
and an ipad,
but I am old school and prefer
a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
As Eric and Joe race gokarts

I am content watching
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
I can while away hours
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
While waiting for anything
I don’t care to scroll on my phone
I prefer
a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
Eric and Joe find me boring.
But I am content
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
If I were home
there are so many
shoulds.
I should be paying bills and updating paperwork.
I should be doing laundry, dishes, cleaning.
I should be preparing for Easter.
But I am on vacation.
While Joe and Eric play at the Sporting Complex
I am content
on the patio
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
Everyone worries
when they leave me alone.
Don’t you see my book? My pen? My notebook?
I’m good.
You can leave me alone. 
I am content 
with a book
and a pen
and a notebook.
I am a dreamer.
I live entire lives in my head no one realizes
until I use my pen
to write them down.
Some hit the page
immediately.
Some need to percolate
and age.
So feel free
to let me be 
content in the shade
with my book
and a pen
and a notebook.