I am hesitant to declare it out loud for fear of jinxing it, but I think spring is finally here. Each time I have thought that spring had arrived in the last couple of weeks our northeastern climate has slapped the area with another frigid windy day dashing my dreams of cotton blouses and flip flops.
I am particularly impatient this year because we have embarked upon a long overdue renovation of the backyard. This renovation is in response to a particularly fierce nor’easter that swept through here last fall toppling four large trees and crushing a shed in our yard. The mess was enormous and as a result four more trees had to be taken down as they had split or had other damage making them unsafe.
Since the yard was torn to shreds it seemed like a good time to focus on making it look better. For years, our yard had attracted children from miles around due to the big pool, zip line, swing set with climbing ropes and a trampoline. Yes, my yard was a death trap, but it was a popular one. None of this is conducive to elegant living though and whatever seed we scattered in the hopes of some grass or what vegetables and flowers I tried to coax out of the ground generally ended up trampled by running feet of both human and canine variety. The whole thing was a muddy mess that had me throwing my hands up in exasperation most days, declaring the universal mother complaint about not being able to have nice things.
All of that is about to change. The pool, zip line and swing set are gone. The trampoline is on its way out and I finally have a crowd of older kids more interested in going to the beach in the summer than staying home to destroy my yard.
This is my year. The landscapers have cleared the yard, planted grass and now I can create the kind of beauty that my soul has longed for. Does that sound dramatic? It should not. I believe that God created us for beauty and that when we create beautiful surroundings, listen to beautiful music, contemplate beautiful art, or even wonder at the beauty in the people we see we are drawing ourselves closer to God. In this culture that celebrates the crude, the crass and the ugly it does seem odd to say that beauty is sacred, but it is, and we should be doing our best to create it, even in small pockets of our lives.
The warm breezes of spring, the crocuses and daffodils peeking out from the wet earth and the newness of the Resurrection are like a siren call to many homemakers to shake off the winter blues, let the sunshine in and beautify their homes. It is one of those long held traditions that women start cleaning in a frenzy at this time of year clearing out the dust and grime that all that sunshine you let in showed up so dramatically whilst the husbands search in vain for the item, they just set down right there a minute ago but you have dusted it and put it away.
I have spent a lot of time lately reflecting on home keeping, beauty and the woman’s role in creating it. There have been many articles online lately (I believe due to Women’s History Month which was March) both pro and con regarding a woman concerning herself with all things home. A woman staying home to care for her family, raise her children, create a warm and inviting atmosphere in the home has been controversial for the entire length of time I have been doing it (twenty-six years) but since the mandatory quarantines have sent woman back into the home, even if they are working from there, there has been an epiphany among the blue check Twitterari that being home is better. These women who focused much of their lives on their careers have now spent time with their children, baked bread, worn house dresses, cleaned closets, refinished furniture, planted gardens, read books, and experienced the freedom of being able to put your family first and order your days thusly. So many of these high-powered career focused women are lamenting the end of the quarantines and the return to the office that is pending in the next few weeks. This surprises them, this feeling of loss. It should not surprise them, and that it does is sad. Women are wired for care. To care for their husbands, children and homes is natural and when allowed to settle into that role without guilt (and it took a mandatory lockdown to remove that guilt) they found happiness and peace even in times as trying and stressful as these in which we live.
This year, as best as I could, I have created some beauty in the house, a much-needed kitchen renovation, some new flooring, if it stood still long enough, I painted it, and now it is time for the outside. I am a firm believer that things in my life generally are better when begun with prayer, so my priority is a Mary garden. In medieval times most flowering plants had names that honored the Blessed Mother however after the Reformation took hold many were re-named. It has become popular in traditional Catholic circles to revive the tradition of planting a garden centered around a statue of the Virgin consisting of plants that honor her, so this May my newly dug flower gardens will be planted with Lady’s Slipper, Marigolds, Lady’s heart, Mary’s Love of God, and Our Lady’s shoes. There will also be John Paul II rose bushes, and Our Lady of Guadalupe roses. The statue of Our Lady that my children gave me a few years ago will be surrounded by beauty, children, and canines notwithstanding. I am looking forward to that beauty, a place of peace and calm in a turbulent world.
‘Let everything in creation draw you to God. Refresh your mind with some innocent recreation and needful rest, if it were only to saunter through the garden or the fields, listening to the sermon preached by the flowers, the trees, the meadows, the sun, the sky, and the whole universe. You will find that they exhort you to love and praise God; that they excite you to extol the greatness of the Sovereign Architect Who has given them their being.’
-St. Paul of the Cross