A Story for Spring

Last night, as I was putting the Boy to bed, I once again started telling a Boy and Cat story without any idea where it would lead.  None.  This is how many of the stories start -- sometimes I have a plan, a particular shift I want to help with, or a theme, or even a little inkling from something he's said -- and I just have to roll with it.  Story will walk into the room and take over, I find, if I can just be present and allow things to flow.

So, I started it the usual way, with the boy waking up, getting dressed, having breakfast with his mom, and then the cat asked him if he was ready to go. Off they went, through the Pathway of Growing Small, and across the clearing to the Apple Tree Palace where the Queen of the Tinies lives.  This is where Story stepped in; I had laid the foundations, and I got the characters to where they needed to be for the magic to happen.  

Here where we live, Spring has been playing some funny jokes on us.  She arrives for a few hours, or even for a day, smiling in sunshine, coaxing daffodil shoots out of the earth, and then, her rough-breathed brother, King Winter, roars back into town with his hounds and his pals on their motorbikes.  Winter likes to throw his weight around.  He can be fun, sure, slapping your back and handing you a hot mug of cider.  He can be quiet, too, and bring a hush to the white-robed night.  I think he came back for one more party last night.  The trees outside are hanging heavy with wet snow and ice, and it looks like a fairyland.  Very pretty, lush and austere at once.  

So, Story sent the Boy and the Cat with their friends, Lily, Black-Cap Chickadee, and Baby Dragon, to find out the reason Lady Spring wasn't here yet.  They found her in a blossom-scented orchard, embroidering flowers for the ground.  She laughed and told them of misunderstandings and mistakes, and assured them she'd be along soon.

My own Boy fell asleep pretty soon after that.  He nodded with satisfaction at the story, and I could see the truth of it in his eyes as he snuggled in his bed after the candle was out, just the nightlight glowing.  

Today, I will let Winter have his little fun.  And tomorrow, I will breathe a gentle breath, and welcome Spring.  I hear we will hardly remember Winter by this weekend.  That's the way it is with Spring -- the joy and wonder come in, the sweetness and ease, and somehow, the grinding dailiness of Winter lets go of our memories.  I can't wait.