Warm Front

When the weather in Toronto warms up a bit, there is a palpable excitement.

We are so used to hibernating during the months of Winter. Used to layering long johns and fleece and knit scarves and toques until we are covered from toe to head. Used to running to warm up the car, then running back to the house, then running back to a still cold car. Used to leaving for work when it's dark outside and coming back home when it's dark. When we see neighbors we commiserate about the shitty weather.

Then comes a warm front from the west. It seems to coincide with the longer days in Spring. We receive a combination of higher temperatures, and wait a minute, is that, sunshine!

People wake up out of the fog that is winter and step into the light. We flock to the light like moths. We are all hungry for it. We want the air to drift into our open car windows, to blow into our open jackets. Kids run outside with basketballs under their arms or sandboxes on their minds. Office workers take their lunches to park benches or cinder block planters. We congregate to the nearest patio, even if we have to still huddle together in this small tease of good weather. Mothers with strollers take long, leisurely walks.

BABY learned to crawl and walk over the winter. She perfected her abilities on the living room rug, the worn down pile of indoor playground carpet, on clinical tile and on hardwood.

Yesterday, after taking our own leisurely walk around the block, with our jackets open, I took her out of her stroller. We sat on the grass. The grass that was still cold and brown from last week's temperatures. She walked and stumbled. She reached for the grass and took baby sized handfuls out of the earth. She held it out to me. "Grass!" I said. "That is grass!" She nodded in understanding. She looked at me and wobbled in the other direction.

This is going to be a great summer.
~ humps