The blowing wind and the relentless sun

My 14 month old is about to start walking and this made me feel kind of nostalgic today. It was another early spring two years ago when my -now- 3 year-old girl started walking.

The beginning of spring always feels special to me. It brings back the memory of the cool touch of the mist on bare arms on early mornings linked to a foreboding feeling that the sun would shine all day. And indeed it shined. The smell of dew on the fresh grass of March and the sight of the first almond trees in bloom.
We saw the first almond tree blossoms yesterday afternoon.
Spring strikes February... early, isn't it? And still, I dream. The first child delighted in her very first steps and I was way over the moon, entering a new, precious stage when I got pregnant again.
Two springs afterwards the second child is going to start walking any second and I feel the passing of time as change yet persistence. The blowing wind and the relentless sun.

Memories

My dearest daughter,

Exactly a year ago this evening labor started, the most fruitful labor I had experienced in my life.
Your father and I had gone to my childhood's home to wait for the moment and in the evening of December, 21st I started to feel heavier. Something I couldn't really express felt like you were about to arrive. It was indeed time. You had been expected since Dec., 8th.
My nieces C and A were around and they joined me in my gymnastics and yoga. After dinner I felt like having a cup of hot chocolate and my mother made us one. I remember 'cause never a cup of chocolate has been most enjoyed and regretted afterwards. At midnight I brought up supper, chocolate and tangerines all in a tangle of pain, nerves, expectation. Labor pains got stronger as I went deeper in the night. All by myself I had to focus on hearing the noises of the house to get distracted. However, at dawn the pain grew as a hungry lion and roared and roared. Daylight welcome a pain I had never known before. Painful, yeah but full of different shades. Never a pain has caused such curiosity. I was curious to see the end of it, full of expectations. By the time children were going to school, passing under the window, my husband and I started out to hospital. My sister, a teacher, was also going to school and I recall how pain was pinning me down nearly making me cry when she greeted a pupil's mother with a cheerful "this is my sister, yeah, they are already going to hospital".
It was Dec., 22nd., an ever joyful day, the last day of school before Christmas, a day of Christmas carols concerts, the National lottery draw in Spain. We headed for hospital and the rest is history...
How beautiful were those last days feeling you so near.