Champagne Thursday

When my husband and I were married (some time ago) we ended up with a couple of cases of champagne left.  For the next 6 months or so we had Champagne Thursdays, we would hang at my mom's with my mom and step-dad, pop a bottle of champagne and drink it.  It was a great tradition, one that led to much laughter and is still fondly remembered by all.

I know alot of people do grateful Mondays or that sort of thing, well, this is my version.  Every Thursday I will (virtually) lift my glass to ONE thing.  It can be very hard for me to pick one thing of anything, but I will do my best.

This Thursday I lift my glass to April.  I love April.  I know, I know, the cruelest month.  poor misunderstood Eliot.  But why is April cruel? In there lies my love of April.

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering	5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers

In case you didn't get it, this is all about rebirth.  

In April, Christians have their Easter, Pagans have their Easter, too, sans Jesus.  Earth has her Easter, with a madcap display of blooming and growth and sunny days and sudden storms.  Everything that has died is born again, 

You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;	35
'They called me the hyacinth girl.'
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,	40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.

It is true that every year I read The Wasteland , every April I torture my poor DH and kids by reading sections outloud, but this Spring I am especially grateful for April.  I am especially aware of my rebirth.  
The strength and beauty of women's bodies are so amazing, knowing this time last year I was growing two little healthy people in me, causing my own body such considerable distress and now I can run and play with all my children, I can garden and clean and sleep and see my toes, and they do not look like sausages.  The fear I held to is gone, replaced with the relentless tiger love that I have for all my children, not just my littlest two.

April, thank you for reminding me of the rebirth of my body and my heart and my soul.