Dear Reader:

Just saying the word April softly produces a lilting sing-song to my voice… a soft melody.

Sara Teasdale, in her prose on April, expresses it so well. …”I could not be sure of spring-save that it sings in me.”

The word April immediately conjures up delightful visions of flowers, blue skies and fluffy clouds, daisies or diamonds (the birth flower and birthstone) of this dazzling month. April just makes me smile.

April’s Latin root origin means “to open.” Most historians believe it refers to the opening of flowers profusely blooming over meadows, by gates and in gardens… the reawakening or re-opening of spring and spirit.

Susan dropped by Wednesday to walk the garden and as we entered the entrance gate she remarked on the unusual beauty of the white mums sprinkled in brown against the rusty metal sign telling visitors to “Feel free to talk to the plants…they understand.”

I was about to tell her the brown “stains” on the white mums reflect the downward trend from pure white to brown withered signs of slow decay. But somehow I couldn’t… because I agreed with Susan…the speckled mums were simply gorgeous!

Isn’t this true sometimes of the stains on our own tapestry of life?

I read somewhere recently that a psychiatrist, working with a woman who suffered terribly from “perfectionism,” to the point she found herself isolated from family, friends, and work colleagues…came up with an idea to help her break through her self-induced irrational expectations.

She had to wear an outfit to work with a large mustard stain on her blouse. She was not allowed to wash it off or even apologize for it….simply admit, if asked, that she squirted the bottle too hard…a simple mistake and that trying to clean it would just make it worse.

To her surprise…many co-workers offered suggestions on how to clean it, others smiled and shared their embarrassing “stain” stories until the whole office was laughing together. Suddenly she appeared human and vulnerable…and acceptable as as one of the “team”-humanity.

So until tomorrow…stains remind us that we are not perfect but that “hot dog with all the mustard was sure worth it!”

“Today is my favorite day” (Eva Cate with Winnie the Pooh at the Greek gardens at EPCOT)

“Let us remember that it is our imperfections that make us so wonderfully unique!