Jill Montgomery:
Spring in Vermont, Sorta…

According to the calendar it is springtime in Vermont. In fact, it has been spring for a while, even though we were looking out our windows at two-foot snowbanks when spring officially got here.

There are even a few signs of spring now. The robins are here, the joggers are out, the crocuses have appeared and wilted for another year and sugaring season has come and gone as well.

But because this is Vermont, spring happens a little differently here than in the rest of the country.

It IS spring, sorta.

When we Vermonters rake our lawns in the spring and need a break, we go to the shady side of the house and shovel the snowbanks away.

When Vermonters unpack their spring and summer clothes, we just move the sweaters and turtlenecks into one drawer and put the shorts and tank tops one drawer below. Don’t believe what the calendar tells you, the turtlenecks will see more use than the tank tops in a Vermont spring.

We Vermonters who are involved in spring sports know that we need to take both a spring sweatshirt and a winter jacket to the game. We relocate our winter gloves and as spectators we grab the blanket we hauled around in the car all winter just in case we crashed and were stranded overnight before help came along.

Sitting on the bleachers in Vermont’s spring is a struggle between bundling up enough to stop frostbite and yet still leaving a gap to see the game. All the while keeping in mind that our child will never forgive us if we jump up to cheer and trip over the blanket, necessitating a ride to the emergency room after pitching off the bleachers!

We send our kids off to play in the game with shorts, pants complemented by under-all garments, and short-sleeve uniforms, fortified by sweatshirts and turtlenecks.

The saying, "If you don’t like Vermont’s weather, wait five minutes," is never more apparent than in the springtime.

One week we hauled out shorts, flip flops and started getting tans. The next, we went back to having to warm the car up in the morning because of frosts.

Temperatures we would have loved to have had during the winter, had us grumbling after our first taste of the sun on our faces. And if the cold wasn’t enough to contend with, we got those wonderful April showers—only the May flowers were too cold to come out!

But the season is young and after all, we are Vermonters and we know deep down, very deep some years, that sooner or later, spring really will get here. Spring will come for good this time and we will look around at the green hills and remember why we live in a state that has snow in May!

Jill D. Montgomery lives in Braintree and enjoys the REAL springtime in Vermont, but wishes it would get here really quick!