I feel it’s safe to say that April is a good month.  One of those months that’s, you know, popular.  You can’t help but like that it’s starting to get warm and Spring can officially be felt – but it’s not quite Summer, so there’s a lot of excited anticipation going on without any of the pressure.  It’s all Easter holidays and going to the races and, depending on your current life situation, is when you might start calling to a beer garden after work, stop wearing socks (so much) or get gardening.  Basically, good times happen in April.

This April has been a particularly great one – baby girl turned 1, a good friend of mine had her first baby, a boy, and I gained a brand new sister.  April has always been generous on the sister front – I have two that celebrate birthdays this month, one an aries, one a taurean – but this newest addition is a particular gem, and a leo.  She is clever, she is immensely generous and she has a huge passion for her family, her friends, for life, for her job.  She also makes a very special brother extremely happy.

In April, the Burren enjoys its own ‘big day’, exploding with colour and life.  Everything springs into action, gets the glad rags on and does a twirl.  Against the sometimes stark grey of the stone and sky, an understated lushness occurs.  Rocky crevices burst with greenery, ferns unfurl and scents abound creating and recalling deeply embedded memories.  The smell of the furze, the blackcurrant bush, freshly cut grass can bring me immediately right back to when I was a small girl.  Some flowers – like the primrose, the dandelion, the apple blossom – are so intrinsic to memories of my youth, they are like returning, much-missed friends.  Others, like the gentian, the early purple orchid and cat’s paw are new and now much-coveted sightings.  Each works hard within the timeframe they have to grow and to blossom – because nature is all about time.  It works to a tight schedule.  April didn’t get to where it is without March and it’s work is only done when we’re delivered soundly into May.  The saying goes that time waits for nobody – and even one of the year’s prettiest months isn’t exempt from that natural law.  But, while time marches on, our love for April endures and memories of this lovely month will sustain us when we’re in the dregs of November and missing this month’s warmth and promise.

It’s a fitting month to get married.

After the big day itself, after we’d celebrated and danced and sang the merry couple into their new life, the two families had a chance to gather.  It was relaxed and full of chat and good food and great company.  Nobody wanted the weekend to end, but just as the big day had come, it had gone and flights, work appointments and normal life beckoned.  Before we hit the road from a home now connected to our own, I had the chance to look at some family photographs with my brother’s new mother-in-law.  The photos were of smiling youngsters on big days and we chatted about how quickly those days had gone and these days had come, with each child having grown and flown and created their own productive lives with their own loved ones.  This modest lady commented on how herself and her husband hadn’t really done anything out of the ordinary to get their family to where they now are.  We looked back at the photos;  ‘You gave them a loving home’, I volunteered.  Life can baffle the best of us, but some things are very clear.  ‘Yes.  Love is very important’ she said.  ‘And so is time.  Love and time are what matter most.  It all goes by so quickly’

I put that in my back pocket.  If any one knows the secret, this lady does.

When this young couple walked down the aisle, the love was tangible.  They’re just starting out and time is on their side.  And if love and time are what matter most… they really have it made.

Here’s to love and time spent making memories on an April day.

A Wonderful Wedding

Blackcurrant Bushes

Apple Blossom

Gorgeous Primroses

White Thorn

Cat’s Paw

Rusty-Back Fern

Early Purple Orchid