April Fool’s Easter

This year Ash Wednesday occurred on Valentine’s Day and Easter on April Fool’s Day.  That seems unusual to me, but it also got me thinking…

 

On Easter, when usually sunshine and daffodils and baby chicks come to mind, Mother Nature seemed to chuckle as she slyly planned her own April Fool’s trickery.  Sitting on my porch, a large, low container of pansies welcomed one and all to our home. Their immense faces cheerfully flirted with the breeze, teased the frollicking clouds, and chatted with the neighborly sparrows. Mother Nature looked the other way, feeling a more and more out of sorts, feeling more and more grouchy at being left out of the Springtime cheer.  So out of sorts was she that she abandoned her naturally sunny disposition, feeling not in the least generous or gracious.

 

So, as Easter approached, Mother Nature decided the time was right for her little “joke”.  She spied the pansies with their joyful exuberance of the coming celebration. She noticed the golden forsythia wreath on the ruby red door.  “No, no, no,” she thought. “If I’m not happy, ain’t nobody going to be happy.” So with premeditated purpose, instead of whisking in fair winds and warm sunshine, she decided play her joke. On Easter Eve, she invited Old Man Winter for a little visit.  His blustery breath sent a freezing chill over the land. His late visit frosted the happy pansies. Their heads now drooped in frozen death, no longer having strength to greet the morn. Easter-goers who, in cheerful anticipation of a glorious day, stepped out upon the porch  They clutched their coats tighter, pulled on their woolen mittens, and stared at the sad, sad pansies. Snowflakes swirled as Mother Nature laughed.