Mid-Sole

One of the bright spots on my daily run every spring is dandelions.

Their bright yellow is a welcome burst of color after a long, cold, dark, drab winter.

This spring in particular—with all of the struggles we’ve been facing with the COVID-19 pandemic—the bright yellow dandelions have been an especially welcome sight.

My guess is that this spring, even hard-core “lawn farmers” who usually do everything they can to kill dandelions may be finding something to like about these bright yellow flowering plants. (Yes, they are officially classified as plants, not weeds).

Shown here in the photo is a field of dandelions that always brightened my run every spring back when I lived and ran in the rural countryside just outside of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Their bright yellow–mixed in with the rolling green hills and wide open view of the big blue sky—were a sight that said loud and clear that spring is here and warmer days are ahead!

One of the bright spots during this dark season of the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing so many more people out running, walking, and biking.

Here’s hoping that through it all we gain a greater appreciation for our parks and trails and for the numerous health benefits of aerobic exercise, not the least of which is stress relief!

While the snowfall pictured here was met with scorn by many of us in the upper Midwest because it arrived in late April when we were more than ready for spring, my buddy Caleb was not one of those who were complaining about the white stuff.

That’s because one of his favorite pastimes is tunneling head first in the snow.

Seeing Caleb do this never fails to put a smile on my face, which is an especially welcome thing during this challenging spring season of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Here’s hoping that we always find things to smile about, even during the hard times.

Here’s also hoping that spring—and better times—come soon!

This Easter, I am especially grateful for the Easter message that is central to Christian faith.

It is the message that even in the darkest, most challenging times—which we face head on with full awareness—we will come out on the other side better and stronger than ever.

This Easter, I also am especially grateful for Easter traditions.

One tradition in my family that we love to remember and laugh about—especially my father Tom—is the Easter egg hunt that we had in the yard when I and my siblings Betsy and Steve, along with our cousins Todd, Paul and Wendy, were young kids.

The hunt was organized by my parents Lynn and Tom, Aunt Joanie and Uncle Terry, and grandparents Lillian and Henry.

I have since learned that the ringleader of the entire Easter-egg hunt-operation was my Grandpa Henry.

 Being the promotional wiz that he was—Grandpa Henry was a very successful typewriter salesman back when typewriters were like PCs and smartphones—he came up with a brilliant way to add to the excitement for us kids as we searched the yard for the hard-boiled eggs that we had colored.

Every time one of us kids found an egg, we proudly ran to Grandpa Henry and gave it to him.

And as soon as we weren’t looking, Grandpa Henry went and hid the same egg somewhere else in the yard.

Pretty sneaky of him, for sure. But very clever and grandfatherly too.

Thanks to Grandpa Henry, the excitement of a hunt that probably would have lasted for all of five minutes with the dozen or so eggs that we had turned into a hunt for “hundreds” of eggs that went on for a fun-filled half-hour or so.

Now that were all “too old” for Easter egg hunts, I love to hear my Father Tom laugh about how Grandpa Henry had all of his grandkids fooled.

Maybe we don’t believe in the Easter Bunny anymore. But here’s hoping that we all believe in the power of Easter and holiday traditions!