Spring tries, the lad ponders

Spring truly is trying. I give it lots of credit. The mercury has topped 50° now and the sun is doing its very best to melt the mountains of snow out there. But it’s a slow slog getting down to bare earth. There still isn’t any ground visible. Just snow as far as the eye can see. But the mounds are shrinking. Instead of six foot mounds of snow and four foot drifts, we’re down to four foot mounds and two and three foot drifts. Well, the drifts are about even with the rest of the snow now. It’s still up to my knees and above in the yard.

On a day like this I want to be out in the yard, raking and tidying up. It would be a good time to put down some lime and some weed inhibitor. I hope the snow is gone by next weekend. I’m afraid spring is going to be one of those overnight events this year: Snow gone, weeds sprouting, perennials poking out of the ground all at the same time. There is so much to do out there before that happens!

Meanwhile the lad is at work thinking about things.

He spent part of the weekend at his Dad’s house and came home, this morning, with some new ideas about summer activities. We’ll have a good sit down and talk session tonight. In the continuing ramp-up toward college, he’s thinking of taking a couple of summer courses at Boston College. One is creative writing. He’s really getting into the writing thing and spends most of his free time working on it.

He and a few other kids at school also got a grant to write and illustrate (photographs) a book about ‘a day in the lives’ of a few developmentally disabled employees at the local workshop. And he’s loving it. The book will be published at the end of the school year and proceeds will go to the workshop.

But he has questions whether this should be his educational focus or something he does part time. As he says...there are a lot more dirt poor writers out there than successful ones. I’m not quite sure how to advise him on this. Yes, there are a lot of dirt poor writers out there. He is a good writer, there is no question and I think he could do well in some aspect of the trade. But it can be a pretty iffy profession. Still, I think the best advice is to follow his heart and do what he loves. The rest is details.

Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if he changes his mind at least two or three more times before he is launched into the world.