Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Day Before April 2013

Today is the day before April, the day for me to reprint my now-traditional day-before-April post,  It's also Easter Sunday, a day of joy for me and for Christians all around the world. Shortly I'm off to the sunrise service that Christopher helped to organize with the St. Paul's UMC youth group, followed by an Easter church breakfast, and then the glorious processional at the 10:15 worship service: "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today!" 

But first I need to celebrate the day before April.

My mother was an elementary school teacher as well as a writer of a few published stories for children. Her love of reading and writing is where I get my love of reading and writing. My sister and I were raised on poetry. One of our favorite collections was Silver Pennies, edited by Blanche Jennings Thompson ("A Collection of Modern Poems for Boys and Girls" - modern, meaning at that time, published in 1959). The preface to the book begins with the lines:

You must have a silver penny
To get into Fairyland.

The premise of the book was that poems themselves are these silver pennies.

Of all the silver pennies in the book, this poem was the one we loved best, by Mary Carolyn Davies:

The Day Before April

The day before April
Alone, alone,
I walked in the woods
And sat on a stone.

I sat on a broad stone
And sang to the birds.
The tune was God's making
But I made the words.

My mother, my sister, and I have long celebrated "the day before April" as a holiday, a Mills family holiday. A few years ago I hosted a "day before April" party, with my mother and my boys (who did think it was a somewhat strange party) as the only guests. I usually gave my mother flowers on that day.

I've dreamed of writing a book with the title The Day Before April. Maybe someday I will.

In honor the day, I'm going to go buy some flowers - daffodils, probably. Three years ago, when I first wrote this post, I took daffodils to my mother, who was in a rehabilitation center after a fall that broke her hip and arm; she died two months later. My daffodils today are in memory of her.

Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate Easter. And happy day before April, everybody.

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