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            Most people can’t wait for winter to be over. Who can deny the pleasure of longer days, more sunshine, warmer weather and no more snow?
            This year seemed especially harsh in some parts of the country. Not here. Our winter in southeastern Ohio was mild. I’ve actually come to enjoy winter — strange as that may seem. It’s a time of year when I tend to buckle down on those indoor-only projects, when long evening hours allow time for creativity
            Now that spring is here and the days are longer, the evenings are too short. The demand of outside chores takes me away from the computer. Songbirds entice me with their irresistible melodies, the chickens want to hatch babies, and the garden beckons to me to prepare the soil for this year’s harvest.
            I find myself resisting the change of my leisurely winter routine. It seems I just got comfortable with my habits and daily tasks, and now spring is here to disrupt it. But I’m also looking forward to the new season.             Sunshine on my skin will bury the winter pastiness. That winter flab will (hopefully) convert back into muscle with yard work and woods hikes. The dog, who grew lazy and obese from winter’s inactivity, will undoubtedly slim down just by being outside more.
            The changing seasons give life meaning. It reminds us that nothing is constant, that change is inevitable. By allowing change, we flow with it and grow from it.
            My son and his wife, who moved near us in August, are going back to Colorado. They have embraced change and are excited. I will miss them, but I know they will find life better in the mountains, and in June my first grandchild will be born.
            Change is in the air here too, but things will remain as they are a little longer. I’ve learned that if there is one thing you can count on in life it is change. Nothing stays the same... at least not totally.
            Look at yourself. You’re not the same person you were a year or two ago, are you? You’ve grown, evolved, and your opinions may differ according to things you read and learn. How you relate to the people in your life changes. Friends and loved ones you were close to a decade ago may not be with you now. New ones will undoubtedly appear on the horizon shortly.
            Life is too exciting to want things to remain the same. I bid winter adieu now as the first flowers begin to poke through the cold ground, and the first thundershowers of spring summon the peepers to sing at twilight.
            In a few months things will change again. We’ll have forgotten how winter caused us to shiver when we complain about the heat and humidity. But it won’t be long after that when we’ll have the autumn months ahead of us, and the whole cycle begins anew.
            Life is the same way. Death is not the end of life, it is merely the transition from one season transforming into another.
            Life goes on, ever changing, ever unfolding, offering us gifts and challenges and rewards beyond description.
            Who’d want to miss any of that?

            Ann Ulrich Miller, editor of The Star Beacon, resides in southeastern Ohio. Her Space Trilogy novels are available at www.earthstarpublications.com/trilogy.html, and her latest novel, Rainbow Majesty, a mystery/suspense about lightworkers, will be out in 2008.