The Madness of March

 

The NCAA  basketball tournament is called March Madness. A catchy, media-ready phrase to describe the month-long  thinning of college basketball teams down to a championship title.

Here, the madness of March refers to the weather. This morning we awakened to several inches of snow, winds of double-digit velocity, and temperatures which be appropriate in December rather than spring. Very depressing to deal with this on the last day of March. In our state, there is also the high school basketball tournaments in March. There is almost universally accepted that there will be huge snowstorms during the high school basketball tournaments. It happens almost every year.

Today the forecast is for more snow over the next several days, high temperatures in the thirties. But hey, on a few of the days this week, the sun may be shining!

In our family, the madness also refers to several big changes happening over the past several weeks, and which will continue for some time.

Big news: Our oldest son and daughter-in-law are expecting their second child in November! We are thrilled about having five grandchildren, and the prospect that perhaps after four girls, we may add a boy to the mix. Unfortunately, because they suffered a miscarriage with their first pregnancy, they are being very careful about letting the news out. We have had to keep it secret for several weeks now. Finally, they told the immediate family members.  It is still not to be public to anyone else, which means I am keeping this from my mother, brother, sister and friends. Of course, I can write about it here, as none of you will spill the beans, right? We are counting the days already. What fun to have a new baby in the family once more.

Our other son and daughter-in-law and their three girls have been living with us since last June will be moving into their own home in Mid-April. When they moved into our home, they sold or donated almost all of their furnishings and other non-necessities. Now that they will be in a home of their own once more, they have been replacing those items. My daughter-in-law is a thrift store goddess. She finds the best stuff. Between Craig’s List, Facebook Marketplace, Goodwill in several locations and a few antique stores, she has found a house full of furniture. And it is now stacked in our home, waiting for the move. The dogs are a bit upset. They know that something is up. The kids are excited, as each of them will have their own room. Much of the furniture is for their rooms.

This week, however, our son and daughter-in-law are heading for a spring break vacation in Paris. They had found cheap tickets several months ago, not knowing that they would be moving to a new home at the same time. So they will get home from France on Saturday, get the keys to the house on Sunday, and start moving, cleaning and painting. The next weekend, they will move in the big stuff. Whew! I am exhausted just thinking of it.

Then our house will be empty. It’s going to be quiet. It’s going to seem huge.

So, we have started the house hunting process. We found a realtor. We have been checking the websites. We have been driving around, looking at lots, homes and neighborhoods. Unfortunately, it is leading to finding out that we have more that we disagree about than agree. We aren’t in a big hurry, but it would be nice to have a plan we can use to narrow down our search.

The thought of selling our current home is daunting. We have lived here 17 years. The closets are stuffed. The basement was cleaned out last year, so that’s not so bad. But the garage is a disaster. It is going to be a huge job just to get ready to sell. The value of our home is in the lot, and it looks best in the summer. So if we are going to sell, we will be best off doing so during the warmer months. If we don’t have it ready this summer, it is likely to be another year. I’m not sure I want to wait that long

We are ready, oh so ready, to head in to April. The snow should be gone within a few weeks with any luck. The yard work can begin. The garage can be emptied. The chores and projects can begin. There are also at least a dozen family birthdays in April.

From March Madness to April Absurdity.

But with flowers, hopefully.

 

 

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