It is only the middle of April. In the past month, I have consumed four bags of jelly beans. Four.
My friend, Liz, went sugar-free a few years ago. For as long as I’ve known her, she has been pleasant to be around. I used to think it was the sugar, but now I know that unlike me, she doesn’t seem to need the sweet stuff to stay her Sweet Self. At least that’s the fib I tell myself as I guiltily pick through little mounds of beans for the orange and lemon flavored ones, which are my favorites.   I’ve considered emailing the jelly bean company executives to ask that they sell bags that only contain my two favorite flavors but realize that it might be perceived as nothing more than a selfish request from someone on a month-long sugar high.
I bought a bouquet of tulips last Friday. Ten tangerine colored ones as large as Easter eggs. Right now, the flowers are arranged in my grandmother’s crystal vase on the corner of my desk. The blossoms have not yet opened, but when they do, I can tell that the center of each will be bright yellow, the color of sunshine. They seem to have minds of their own and constantly reach toward the window. I turn the vase daily to keep their emerald stems straight and true. It is my penance for moral weaknesses like eating four bags of jelly beans in as many weeks.
In other news, the glacier next to our sidewalk is finally receding. Each morning when I let Maggie out, I notice that a little more of it has melted during the night. If my calculations are right, it will be gone by the first of May. The longer days have me feeling slightly less troll-ish, which is good for everyone who knows and loves me. What a privilege and blessing it is to have nothing more important than the weather to gripe about with so much real suffering going on throughout the world. April struggles to put down roots and take hold here in the woods. So what? While I wait, I’ll change the water in the vase that holds the sunshine and grab one more handful of bean-shaped sin just for good measure. After all, the season of penance is ending and a colorful re-birth is headed our way. April showers…May flowers. And green instead of glaciers.  Lovely, lovely green.
What’s not to love about that?
The Loon Whisperer 