Through a Rosy Lens

Written for Close to Home April 2022

The Ozarks have seemed under the weather lately, especially if one has expectations based on ‘supposed to’s’ in warm and fuzzy memory banks. April temperatures should be warmer than winter tallies. Its days should be sunny and colorful, with the occasional serene spring showers gifting us with rainbows.

Okay, that is a bit over the top. Cold spring snaps that nip azaleas in the bud, torrential rains with howling winds that signal sirens and send us to basements and closets, and overflowing creeks and ditches are as much a part of spring as the bright colorful aspects are. Just check those photos in Facebook memories. You’ll find images of vibrant forsythia blossoms next to snapshots of fist-sized chunks of hail.

Research says we recall most vividly those experiences that are accompanied by the strongest emotions. In my personal spring recollections, the happy, colorful, playful ones stand front and center. Perhaps I have my parents and grandparents to thank for my rose-colored memories.

And that is baffling. Life was not easy for their generations. One lived through two world wars and both managed through scarcity, making the most of what they had, and sometimes that wasn’t much. The motivation for it all? I think it had to be their faith in a Higher Power. Faith seems to be something you can share only if you are also holding onto it.

That faith is my heritage. This Easter season is the foundation of faith that is now mine, too. Yes, I wore a new dress with gloves and a hat, decorated eggs and ate chocolate bunnies, but I also attended church and Sunday school regularly, learning that Jesus is the reason love and joy defeat fear. Spring weather may play hide and seek. The Son is always here.