
As some of you might know the vernal equinox was yesterday, March 20, 12:32 p.m. central time, making today the first full day of spring. As Abby and I prepared to head out for Echo Canyon, a spa resort in Sulphur, Oklahoma, about 35 miles south of our home, we read an ominous forecast from the National Weather Service: between five and eight inches of snow and blowing snow in our area overnight. Still, that certainly wouldn’t deter us, so we went anyway.
Our relationship with Echo Canyon is a cordial one, and the arrangement is casual; we come down and make images for their promotional material and website, and they treat us to their luxuries. Win win.
By dinnertime last night the snow was blowing, but when we got up this morning, only about an inch of snow laid on the ground. By the time we got back home to Ada, there was only about a half an inch of snow. Still, to cap off the snowiest winter Abby and I can remember, there is snow on the ground on the first full day of spring.
This winter ended up reminding me of the winter of 1979, when I was a tenth grader. It was cold and snowy then, too, which mixed well with my emotional snowstorms of youth. The drama in my journal swirled around unrequited love and its attendant misery, prompting my English teacher, Gil Hernandez, to note in red ink, “Why do you torture yourself?”
Because we were teenagers, Gil.
As usual, I digress. Abby and I had a great time at Echo Canyon, a warm place on this cold early spring weekend.

Who was that guy who used to talk to Vern on the commercials back in the day?