March is for dreamers

From Western Illinois Family Magazine: The Roadtripper
++++++++++++++++

March is for dreamers.
We think about green grass, sunny skies and sweet, spring breezes. We wonder when we can plan our first picnic, pedal off on a bike ride and finally trade coats and gloves for shorts and sunglasses.
Dream on.
Because you never know what March can bring.
Back when I made a daily commute from Galva to Peoria, it was not unlike walking a tightrope. A slippery, very scary one.
I would leave in the morning feeling quite sure spring had finally sprung. Whistling a merry tune, I'd hop in the car thinking of nothing of the glorious season ahead. Ten hours later, the other face of March weather would have me slogging through slippery piles of wet, sloppy snow, wondering if I would ever see home again.
Apparently, I did.
Just barely.
But, the fact is, I like March, despite the fact that it's a mite quirky, weather-wise.
I like the first glimpses of new life, as tiny shoots of pale-bright green work their way through a winter's worth of blown-down leaves and dried-up grasses.
I like the change in light, in color, and in temperature, as the first balmy breezes of a new season battle against the last cold blasts of stubborn wintertime.
I see the oh-so-subtle changes in the rolling fields that surround us and smile as buds and blooms begin to sprout; as the tulips begin to awake from a long winter's sleep and bluebells, violets and scilla dot yards and garden plots with the season's first bits of dainty color.
I listen and ask questions of farmer friends as they prepare for another year spent feeding the world.
I watch children in parks and playgrounds as they shout and run and play and play some more in a warm new world of fun and sunshine.
There are no guarantees, I know, as an early spring can disappear quickly when winter decides it's not quite done with us.
But we know, in the end, it's gonna come.
March dreams include a wonderful range of things to do and see throughout our area. The Miss Macomb Pageant will bring a little extra beauty to McDonough County, while Cambridge's Main Street is on the Henry County calendar two weekends in a row, with Senior Citizens' Bingo and the annual Spring Fashion Show. The Galva Arts Council will feature the Celtic sounds of Exorna at their monthly coffeehouse, and the Historic District Open House is what's happening in Geneseo on the last weekend of the month. It's be a musical March in Galesburg, with events including the Chicago Staff Band of the Salvation Army, the Knox-Galesburg subscription concert, "Dancing with the Violin" at the Music Mornings Education Program and the reknowned Rootabaga Jazz Festival. Other Knox County happenings include the annual GALEX 46 Exhibition at the Galesburg Civic Art Centre, which will feature works from around the country, and the Second Chance Prom in support of the Knox County United Way.