The daisy that I gave Maria – she threw it outside rather than put it in the garbage was radiant in the snow, it was bittersweet, a reminder of Spring to come,  and of all that is coming tonight and in the weeks and months before that. The point of winter here, I think, is to make us appreciate Spring. Someone posted a message on Facebook saying they were in Arizona and it was 70 degrees. That did not make me want to live in Arizona, it made me think of how sweet it will be to plant a bigger  Dahlia garden in the Spring, walk on Crystal Hill with the dogs and Maria.

By night, my daisy was succumbing to the blowing wind and snow, it is gone now, buried in a foot of snow. The Daisy said goodbye to me before she was overwhelmed, such a sweet and beautiful metaphor for life, for this awful night, for the meaning both of Winter and Spring. I’ll see you in the Spring, I said.