"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." How sweet these words are written centuries ago by William Shakespeare. Not only sweet but true and relevant. April from the Latin aperire meaning "open". April "opens up" as in the radiant bloom of the Western Redbud tree which explodes with youthful vigor, brightness and refreshing newness. Is there a better month of the year for inhaling and exhaling than April? I don't think so.
April has always been my favorite month of year. Notwithstanding the pending annual tax doomsday of April 15, April rebounds and offers up several terrific "offsets" to that truly awful day.
For the believer, in most years, April is the month that Easter is celebrated by Christians worldwide. It is the holiest and most celebrated day on the Christian liturgical calendar. For believers, Easter Sunday joyfully proclaims the resurrection of Jesus Christ as saviour which is the cornerstone of Christian faith for millions. Truly, a day to rejoice.
For the sports fan, April is a feast. For baseball fans, our country's national pastime MLB baseball opens across this great land on city park diamonds with the World Series hopes of 30 teams in tow. For hoops fans, The Final Four of NCAA basketball showcases the best college athletes on the planet in new age coliseums in front of rabid fans across the country. For golf fans, The Masters at Augusta raises the curtain on the seasonal beauty of the enchanting American South and the rare talents of the professional golfer. For football fans, the televised National Football League annual draft from NYC's Radio City Music Hall trumpets the beginning of the new football year with the groans of the typically-dispirited and hard-hatted Jets fans. For the marathoner, the hills of Boston and Big Sur beckon all qualified comers in the two nonpareil back to back road races in the world.
For the gardener, the keeper of the planet, April is a glorious warmer month. The garden is in full springtime bloom, the birds tweeting have returned from a long winter's silence and the planting of vegetables, particularly, tomatoes begin in earnest. In some parts of the country, the first bloom (the best bloom of the year) of the rose bush arrives in hushed ecstasy. Sure there are garden chores associated with April such as weeding, hunting gophers, weeding, trapping moles, weeding, cutting grass, spraying and fertilizing but it's all good.
For the prankster, April Fool's Day or St. Stupid's Day, is a first day of the month and it's over fast thankfully, so as not to dilute the magic of the rest of the month.
For the fisherman, will it be red light or green light for the seasonal salmon fishing season on the West Coast? For the past two years, recreational salmon fishing has been prohibited in April. However, this year the game is on. What's that I hear? Ahabs in Moss Landing screaming with joy while dreaming of wild fresh salmon steaks.
For the businessman, the first quarter earnings report from corporations are presented to investors for better or for worse. Hopefully, this year's announcements will be more spring-like and less dismal-like than years past.
For others, April celebrates just about everything else: International Pooper-Scooper Week where "dog waste is no joke" about 4.4 billion pounds of it per year, International Louie-Louie Day (the most recorded rock song in history), National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day (appropriately on April 16), National High Five Day (spread the joy even with people you don't like), National Licorice Day (red or black?), Earth Day (party at Al Gore's Tennessee cottage), Bob Wills Day (hoedown in Turkey, Texas with the Texas Playboys), and my all time favorite, the National Pot Smokers Day where everybody seems to be conspicuously high on something.
But the best thing for me about April is the 20th day of the month when a birthday is celebrated. For on that day, 56 years ago, God sent the world a jewel: a baby girl who became a daughter to loving parents, a caring sister, my faithful wife, a respected in-law, a loyal friend and an incredible mother to our four grateful children. For that one day in April, the other eleven months of year pale in comparison.
How 'bout you? What's your favorite month?
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