It was a warm, wet, humid spring day today. There was a low overcast all day. The wind was strong, and the clouds were racing from South to North. Not a usual New England pattern on April 1st. Not at all.
I took Ellie outside. She sat in her stroller, watching me with her wise dark eyes as I raked up the straw and pine boughs that had covered my perennial beds. The wind blew strong and the pines creaked and moaned. Ellie watched. She watched me stoop and scrape and gather up the winter coat of the garden. She watched the birds darting back and forth and up and down. She tipped her head back and watched the tops of the trees as they swayed back and forth above her.
Tonight, after I had taken Ellie home to her Mom and Dad, I stood on my deck. The night was coming on fast, and rain threatened to fall. There was thunder in the distance, making my old dog Sadie shiver and quake at my feet.
I looked out, across our property, to the wetlands beyond. I strained a bit to hear what I so wanted to hear. And there it was.
The spring song of the “peepers”, the tiny green tree frogs whose voices fill the evening air of New England springtimes. I smiled, remembering all of the years when my children and I had stood in this same spot, waiting for that springtime call of love and hope.
I thought about Ellie. How funny, I thought to myself. This is her first spring time!
I thought about the rhythms of life. About Ellie hearing and smelling spring for the very first time in her life. I thought of myself, remembering so many springtimes in the past. I thought of my Mother, feeling and hearing spring in her 86th year, wondering how many springtimes are still before her.
I stood on my deck, in the damp warm evening. I breathed in the smell of the leaves and the warming smell of the earth. I listened to the peepers in the marsh, seeking love.
Ellie has so much to look forward to in this beautiful life.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
PEEPERS—AND THIS TALE—ROCK!
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Thanks, Jonathan!
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Lovely! I have been listening to the birds chattering away in the mornings. I suspect, like your tree frogs, they are welcoming the onset of spring😉
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Me, too, Lynn! We have a phoebe who has nested under our deck for years; when I hear her call, I know its spring!
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Our birds seem to be early risers, their chatter begins at about 4:30am!
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Wonderful story about your day as a reflection of your moments with Ellie in nature, her future to come and the rhythms of life. 🙂
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Thank you! You understood exactly what I was trying to say!
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🙂
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sometimes out of the mouths of peepers, comes a great thought, huh? nicely written and a wonderful feeling. thanks for sharing it. you made me FEEL something, so good writing! an unknown friend, momentummikey 🙂
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Thank you, Mikey! That’s exactly what I was trying to do!
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I didn’t know about the Peepers, maybe because I grew up right in Boston.
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Aw, you city folk! Peepers are awesome (wicked pissah)!
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I sure hope our midwest weather bypasses you. They are predicting snow/rain showers tomorrow morning with windows gusting to 50 miles an hour.
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We’ve been having the wind for days now; today is cool and gray and drizzly. Snow for Monday. Ah, well, the peepers will peep on anyway!
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Lovely post…remember taking Jack out in his stroller on “nature walks’ during his first spring. Hard to believe that was 11 years ago and he turns 12 on Monday. Seems like just a moment ago that I was having the same fun with Jack that you are having with Ellie. When I saw him today to give him his birthday presents, he was my height. Enjoy that little girl, because she’ll be as big as you are before you know it…believe me.
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I know! I think one of the sweetest parts of being with Ellie every day is that this time around I am wise enough to know that it flies by. She changes every single day! And this time I know not to look away…..I feel like it was only a year or two ago that I held Katie as she slept……
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It’s always so touching to see a baby experience all the “firsts”, isn’t it?
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It is! Everything is new again.
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So many springs ahead and such a wonderful person to help show her the way! xo
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And she will keep me looking at spring as the gift it is!
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