SPRINGING

I always told Dominicans about how much it snowed at my home. I told about how I might get home in time to see a bit of it.

I have seen enough of it. I have been cold long enough. I bet some more cold is around the corner, but for now, Spring is winning. Summer is coming.

Viable reasons:

• Yellow blossoms.
• The smell I smelled last night.
• The lack of shiver when I say goodbye at the door.
• Magnolia blossoms.
• The need to roll down the car windows.
• Longboards E V E R Y W H E R E.
• White blossoms.
• Lilac blossoms on the walk to work:

And this last reason is viable, but ever-so unpleasant:

• MOSQUITOness! - Today Ben asked me in the dusk if I was getting bitten like he was. I had something else on my mind and didn't make the connection that it meant mosquitoes. Just now I came home and I saw one buzzing around the lamp in the sala. It bounced into itself around the laptop, which is where I pinched it & killed it. That's right: I pinched it in mid-air. (That's how familiar I became with my biggest pet-peeve in the D.R. wonder world.)

I wish I could say Provo was so wonderful that there are no mosquitoes. But I concluded their sole purpose must have to do with my patience. And it helps me to appreciate the winter a bit more.