Team Gray!

Ever since your dramatic entrance into the world, you have been grabbing attention.

Whether it was singing the blues as a toddler, softshoe in a frog suit as a young teen, leading your Bible study, or writing software, you have always put your whole heart into every endeavor.

You bring us great joy.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you, Xavier.

Happy Birthday.

The last time I remember a March like this was 17 years ago. I was very pregnant with my second child at the time.

70s and 80s in March? In Michigan? Unheard of. . . except 17 years ago.

Our crocuses are already wilting, and the hydrangea is budding. With signs of life bursting out all over the yard, I took Chanya on a search for Spring today.

We walked to the end of the street, where there’s a small park/big garden. Regular trips to the garden yield colorful surprises from Spring-Fall. In Winter, like now, we don’t expect much. Withered berries, holly, sticks poking out of the ground that used to be lush trees.

But I had a hunch about today.

“Is Spring over there?” Chanya asked from her stroller as we walked down the street. “Spring is all around us,” I told her, not even worrying about how corny I sounded.

When you survive a Michigan Winter, even one as mild as this one, whispers of Spring make you a bit giddy.

The first floral treat we caught was a tree with red flowers on it, a block from our house. We collected fallen flowers from the street. Further down the street, we found and gathered violets, vinca, and forsythia.

But the most thrilling sight greeted us when we reached the garden.

I can’t wait to see these in our yard!

As for 17 years ago, the summer temperatures were not the end of the story. A cold front came through, plunging the temperature 40 degrees. It snowed two days after my son was born.

As he turns 17, it would be ok if history didn’t repeat itself. Really.

You have to live in the frozen north to understand. It was in the 60s today–and yesterday!

There are still mountains of dirty snow in big parking lots.

The mountains are melting, though. And nobody told the flowers that it is just March, and they might want to hold off on blooming.

Around here, it could snow up until Memorial Day.

So we’ll make the most of this March mildness.