Seasonal

Seasons might be normal and real in your life, but for me, they were theory until three years ago. I lived 5 years in Ecuador which is along the equator, where literally there are no seasons. The sun comes up and down at the same time all year long. I have also lived in other countries, but never so far north or so far south to see big changes in the weather. Despite having studied about seasons and having watched it in pictures and movies, I was not prepared to see it with my own eyes, to feel it with my own hands. Follow me as I share with you how I learned about the four seasons.

When we arrived in Canada in April 2018, it was almost spring. The trees and bushes had no leaves and the grass was covered with ice crystals. Everything looked sad and old to me. If I had seen a tree with no leaves back home, I would have probably chopped it down. In tropical weather, trees only lose their leaves when they are dead or very sick. Suddenly, one day, plants with flowers appeared from nowhere. The trees were also filled with flowers, even the bushes had flowers. This was new and incredible for me. Most trees back home keep their leaves when they bloom. It was beautiful to see all the trees with flowers and no leaves.

Summer did not impress me at all. We had fun, we camped, we went to picnics and barbeques, but the weather was what we expected. We realized we had been leaving in summer for the past two decades.

Fall was another surprise because of all the different colours, the rain and the wind. We had so much fun playing with kites, visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens. Sunsets with orange leaves were gorgeous. I will confess that cleaning the leaves was not that fun.

After all these changes, we were expecting, with great enthusiasm, for winter. Just a word of caution: winter in Canada is fun, but it is long. We wanted to have our first white Christmas and we got it. One December night, it started snowing and everything became white. It was night but it seemed like the day to me. I was so thrilled that I shovelled the sidewalk before it finished snowing. My neighbour was also a newcomer and shovelled with me. It was useless because snow continued to fall all night. I couldn’t resist going for a walk. That night, I barely slept. We went sledding, we built snowmen, we played snow wars, we had a wonderful time. But when we were ready to move on to spring, the temperature continued to fall down. For weeks we would run from the house to the car, from the car to the school, from the car to the office, etc, etc. Finally, the temperature started to go up again but spring took forever to arrive. Winter teaches you patience.

If I could choose, I would keep the seasons. If I could make adjustments, I would exchange some winter for some springtime. I enjoy the seasons, the views and the different activities I can do with my family each season. I have also learned that it is one thing to read about things, or even watch them in a movie and it is a completely different story to experience them in the flesh.