Spring Has Arrived! By: Lori Loesch

                                                                                                         May Day, May Day!

Positive thinking is a wonderful concept. Why is it so difficult to do? It’s easier for me to do negative as second nature. Positive thinking is the best that I can do for my world, my kids’ world, and for all people of the world. I must consciously make an effort to  have positive thoughts about all things,  and especially with the health woe’s I’m experiencing. 

The weather plays an unbelievable role in what mood I’ll be in for the day. I have found this to be true for a very long time. When I was in my twenties, my boss said that she knew what kind of  mood I’d be in, depending on the forecast. Overcast and rainy…I’d be down and depressed. Warm and sunny…I’d be happy and upbeat. I was distraught to think that I was so transparent that a boss could clearly foretell my mood by the weather. I started to pay closer attention to my moods and the weather, and she was right and I was very angry, I was at the mercy of the weather. And, t,he weather in Central Pennsylvania is cloudy, cloudy, overcast, overcast, rainy, dark, cold, for eight months out of twelve. 

Spring is, a new beginning, although it’s a tough one.  April showers, they bring the flowers, that bloom in May! A few days ago it rained all day and as I was walking into my bedroom, it was early evening, and something caught my eye, outside the window. It was green! Green grass! In one day of overcast, rain showers, the grass was green, the trees were popping with bright yellow buds, and it all happened in a nano second! 

It’s funny, to my daughter and me, that the first to arrive from winters’ slumber are the jagger bushes. The fragrant, delicious, black raspberry bushes. We have them at every turn, and around every tree in our yard! I think they are beautiful. I’m a nature girl. Keep it the way God made it. Natural, wildflowers. How can a hybrid flower be better than the original? OK, OK, they do need trimmed to the ground after they give their berries!

I was driving home, from dropping Faith at school, and I was enjoying the tree buds and daffodils that are coming to life. It occurred to me that I CAN see clearly, nature! Words on printed sign or page, not so much. But I am positive! The Macular Degeneration is a struggle everyday. I am…was, an avid reader and now I blog. The blog could not have come at a better time in my life!  (Thank you, Robin Gorman Newman! Motherhood Later than Sooner)  I felt as though my eyesight was slipping away as was my baby daughter. Writing the blog forces me to do what I enjoy. Writing, and I’m NOT giving it up! It’s another opportunity for me to find something that brings me joy, other than caring for my daughter. I still haven’t been able to find a comfortable fit for reading novels, but that is something I will work on. 

The doctor said my vision was made worse by stress. So I’m saying “goodbye” to it! I took my health into my own hands, and I hired a cleaning service to come in and help keep up with this massive house that has gotten away from me. They were here eight hours, and already David looks better, and I feel lighter!

 You must understand, I wanted, and have been, a wife that allows her husband to take care of everything. It has been a large jump for me to go from asking if I can have a cleaning service, to informing him, gently, that they will be here tomorrow. Nuff said. As my friend said to me, “It’s time to pull your big girl pants up, Lori”. In the loving way that she delivered it. I love her for many reasons, and this is one! It’s funny how one sentence, from one friend, can change my life for the better. I may have heard that phrase before, but it had never hit me as it did the day she said it to me, rather she texted it to me! 

Tags: central pennsylvania, flowers, health, macular degeneration, Motherhood Later Than Sooner, positive thinking, rain, Spring, taking control, trees budding, weather