Ethyl Remembers: Another April

One of my favorite short stories is entitled 'Another April' by a Kentucky writer named Jesse Stuart.  It is the story of an old man going out to take a spring walk after being indoors all winter.  He is frail and must lean on a cane as he carefully goes around the yard examining the new buds and plants that have started to sprout, touching the pine needles in his hand, smelling their pungent fragrance, and finally hobbling over to the old smokehouse to look for an old terrapin that has made his home there for many years.  He calls the old turtle 'his friend', and his young grandson looks through the window as the old man kneels down to have a lengthy conversation with the creature.  The old man promises the terrapin to come again, although he knows it may be the last April for either of them, and the young man looks on in innocent wonder, having as yet never having to come to terms with a life ending.
When I walked out in my back yard this early morning I thought of that story.  I walked around and counted the pods on my irises.  I now have ten.  I looked at the roses and the promise of blossoms there.  The birds hopped around and the air was warm and sweet, and I thought how wonderful that April does come every year.  Even if the winter is hard and cold, like this one proved to be, we always have the promise of April to look forward to.  And she seldom disappoints.  She delivers her goods almost always on time, and every year her dress is resplendent.  She blows in on a whim and leaves on a whine, but she is most pleasant company while she favors us with her presence.  Here in the South, May will get hot.  By the middle of the month we will have ninety degree weather and be running our air conditioners full blast.  Our utility bills will start to climb and they will not decrease until possibly October.  But for the next thirty days we have April.  So since she has been so kind as to drop in for her yearly visit, let us all enjoy her company for as long as we have her.