March Winds

I like dates, especially the way dates overlap over the course of years.  It seems each family has their fair share of birthdays doubled up on the same date.  We have those as well as a number of life-changing events that share the same day. With all the dates on a calendar I wonder why so many important happenings cluster on or around the same day.

Recently, glaring examples of this phenomenon have come to my attention, coincidences that I was unaware of. 

I was putting together an album of photos I took of my daughter's house during the last weeks she lived there.  We have hundreds of photos taken over the almost 29 years we lived there as a family, rooms as backdrops tell the story of where the house started and how it changed over the years.  But my daughter wanted a series of pictures of the house as she lived in it, so I took several photos of each room as the house was listed for sale.  Once the house was sold I returned to take a series of photos of the empty rooms on the last day she lived there, which was September 7, 2014.  In the photo album I wanted to include the date of when Ken and I bought the house, which the original mortgage agreement records as September 7, 1978.  That was a stunner even for me.

It was in March of 1978 that Ken and I made a trip to Maine to look for jobs so we could relocate.  I can't find the exact date but it was sometime between March 20 and March 27.

On March 24, 2007 we moved into the house where we currently live.

One year later I started this blog.  At the time I didn't realize the coincidence.

I have been writing here for seven years.  Usually this day comes and goes with no recognition on my part.  Some years it gets to be April before I think, "How long have I been blogging?"

But this year I have been acutely aware of time and dates and years since this or that has happened.

This week I looked back at some of my earliest posts.  In writing about a corduroy quilt I had recently finished I wrote:     Each of the quilts I have made represents a period in my life. Upon reflection I decided that this corduroy quilt could represent my life after the move to the country, which is rich with color and texture while it is uneven and asymmetrical. I can plan small sections, but I have no idea what the final product will look like.

There was no way I could know how prophetic those words would be.  I had no idea how much life would change in the coming years.  At that time it felt like so much was possible. 

The March winds this year have carried bitterly cold temperatures right to my door.  It seems a fitting start to spring after a long, dark winter.