Opening Day of trout season in Vermont is as fickle as any other notion of spring in our glorious state. Eliot was correct; April is indeed the cruelest month! On this year’s opening Saturday, after nearly 15 years of hiatus from the vagaries of the day, I was with three friends dragging two canoes across knee deep snow down a logging road to a pond. Dragging in was at least down hill; for the way out we chose to drag across level, snow-covered swampland portaging by sections of the outlet brook. Drag, sink to above boots, drag, drag, drag, sink. And so it went. Bookends to our day, a day which yielded only two fish to one guy. Nice brookies, but still; we all worked pretty hard!

Even so, at the end of the day, cold, a bit wet, no fish for supper, and snow in my boots, I realized I’d had fun. Lots of laughs. Exercising the muscle memory of tying tackle, casting line, packing the canoe. The familiarity of rituals and friendships. Opening Day means all that, even with the snow. Next time out there’ll be less snow and more fish, but the same friends.

One month. Thirty-one days. Mom died March 5. Since then, Dad has given me her art supplies, paints, brushes, knives, and palettes. Since then, I’ve completed one new painting using some of her things. Since then, I’ve collected a number of her books and read one. Since then, a few times I’ve forgotten that she has died, especially while working at my easel, thinking I need her feedback before moving on with the piece. Since then, Dad and I have met for dinner and chess each week; although “dinner” is a bit fancy for what is most typically burgers and fries at Als. Since then, I’ve read and re-read the cards from friends and colleagues. Since then, I still get to work each day at 7:30, attend meetings, complete projects, joke with team members. Since then, I realize I left too much unsaid and undone and have resolved not to let that continue. Since then, I’m more tired but at the same time calmer. Since then, the snow has melted, the robins have returned, and the crocuses have bloomed. One month.