Spring

February 27, 2008


I know we haven't made it to the official start of spring, but living in Texas allows you to cheat winter a little. Having trudged through February, spending much of the month with nagging little worries about Erin's overall health, we have now set winter aside both metaphorically and literally. Monday temperatures locally reached above 80 degrees, only to drop yesterday to the low forties and this morning to the low thirties. This afternoon, however, bloomed in the perfect way: not too hot and not too cold. . . and thankfully not too windy.

Erin had school day to match the weather. Here's the conversation I had with her teacher, when I stopped by her classroom this afternoon to ask about the days she will miss next week when we go down to Corpus Christi:

Ms. K: "Did you hear what happened to Erin at P.E. this morning?"

Mom: "No, I haven't seen her."

Ms. K: "I could barely keep from crying when it happened."

Mom (thinking, did I miss a call from the nurse?): "Is she okay?"

Ms K: "Yes. She's fine. She set a new school endurance record for jump rope. She just kept jumping and jumping. Mr. Jennings [the P.E. coach] kept saying stop Erin, stop. . . you're going to get sick. But she just kept jumping. The whole class was yelling encouragements and got into rhythm saying go Erin, go, until they all drowned out Mr. Jennings. I could barely keep from crying."

At that point Erin skipped into the classroom, fresh from her after-school hall monitor duty. I turned, expecting her to report about this great feat. She said, "Guess what, mom?" I knew, but wanted her to get to tell me, so I shrugged. She said, "I got chosen for the City Honor Choir today. We're going to sing at an A&M baseball game. It's only the best fifth and sixth grade choir students from all twenty schools. Can I do it?"

Talk about a great way to slam the door on winter and the malaise it always brings my sweet precious girl. She hates the cold. She hates the germs. She hates the early darkness everyday. Did I mention, she hates the cold? But today is spring in every sense of the word. She can jump like a tiger and sing like a bird. Her doctor had no complaints about her lackluster counts last week, and actually thought they looked nice considering she had fought off an infection and some inconvenient drug side effects. My only regret about spring's arrival, is that Erin probably won't spend as much time with the Lego Project, and her room may be destined to suffer until cold weather returns next December.