The calendar says springtime but winter in NW Arkansas is in no hurry to leave. Yellow forsythia blooms bravely against the east side of my house. The lilac is putting out leaves, testing the air to see whether it should be encouraged to bud. And seeds that have slept through the cold months are stirring and thinking of life in the sunshine.
The temperature this morning is in the 30s. In spite of the cold, animals as well as plants are waking and stretching and looking around to see whether it’s worthwhile to get out of bed. I suppose opossums hibernate for all or part of the winter. At least, one year at my parents’ house, a ‘possum hibernated because she didn’t have anywhere to go.
Actually, this ‘possum was not as much a mystery as she was a surprise. One spring, Mom opened her cellar door, planning to go down and get some apples for a pie. She had put the apples in a basket in the cellar way back in the fall. As my mother started to go down the cellar steps, she was met with a visitor coming up the steps. The sharp nose and beady eyes of a ‘possum greeted her. The ‘possum was very clean and well-fed, in good shape. Not so with the apples. Evidently, the ‘possum had done well in finding a combination bedroom/dining room. The mystery of how she got into the cellar in the first place was quickly solved. A good sized ventilation pipe stuck out of the roof of the cellar. The only way the ‘possum could have gotten into the cellar was at some point during the winter, she experienced a quick, unexpected drop through the pipe.
This little animal with the long, skinny tail evidently made the most of her circumstances. Instead of frantically trying to dig her way out of an impossible situation, I can imagine she looked around and decided she had landed in a virtual utopia. She was safe from the cold and had plenty of food. If there’s a lesson for us humans, it might be to look at the bright side when confronted with problems. Or maybe the lesson is we should count our blessings or to make the most of our surroundings? Or maybe there’s no lesson at all, just a surprise on four legs walking up the cellar steps one morning in early spring.
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