Wonderfully Ordinary

Anyone who has lived in Germany for more than one spring will tell you that April is not a month one can count on for good weather. You may have some good weather but it won't last more than a few hours. If April weather in Germany were a woman she'd be a 50 year old in the throes of menopause - sunny and pleasant one moment, rainy and cold the next and bitchily moody all the time. So when we get a bit of warm, sunny weather that last longer than Britney Spears in rehab, we revel in it. When it happen on a weekend we practically declare it a holiday.

I wanted to get B outdoors this weekend but unfortunately I couldn't scrounge anyone up to help me get him in his wheelchair. Disappointing, but it's early in the season and we'll have other good weather days to get him outdoors. Feeling bad that he couldn't get out with me on Saturday I limited my outdoor activity to a walk but on Sunday I was wanting to spend more time outside enjoying what could be the last bit of sunny weather until next week or until July - in Germany you never know. I gathered up my knitting - a sock I'm working on for my dear friend, Karen - and headed to the park.

I've knit in pubic before but this was one of the few times anyone has ever acknowledged it beyond looking over at me with a curious or amused expression. The first was an old lady accompanied by two friends pushing her in a wheelchair. As they passed my bench the lady in the wheelchair looked at me and said "I used to do that all the time but I never did it in public," and immediately one of the ladies with her commented "Doing it in the open is more fun but risky," and all three of the women burst out laughing at the double entendre. Cheeky old gals.

Later two young ladies who were likely from the university approached and one said "Is that fun to do? It looks fun.". I replied that it was and she asked me how she could learn it too. Not prepared to give a spontaneous knitting lesson I directed to my favorite local yarn shop that gives lessons. The one looked at her friend and said "Oh let's learn this! This looks fun to do! We'll go do it together.". I thought about warning her about the addictive nature of sock knitting but figured she'd learn it soon enough. I left soon afterwards with red skin from sitting in the sun, hair damp with sweat and another inch done on the sock's leg. Pictures tomorrow!

Today I joined my MIL and a few of her old lady friends at the street cafe across from my apartment building. I wanted another day in the sun and chocolate ice cream and I could take old ladies jabbering in order to accomplish that. As I sat there eating my ice cream and drinking my mineral water and feeling the sun lighting my hair afire I couldn't believe that it is mid-April and I was really outside in capri pants and a tee-shirt and sandals. It just felt wonderful to be enjoying every single thing about that moment. I don't lead the most exciting life - my days are filled with the ordinary - but if this moment was ordinary then I was hoping my remaining years on earth would be filled with them.