PAULIE PICKS

"MARCH"-ING INTO UNCERTAINTY? GO FLY A KITE...


So...the month that roars like a lion or comes in like a lamb is upon us. It roared here in Louisville. As a kid, I looked forward to March...it was a big month for kite-flying and the neighborhood kids would anxiously await the arrival of the kite kits at the local drug stores (we had two local pharmacies back then) Woolworth's or the hardware store.

We were opportunists...no store loyalty...we'd buy wherever the kits landed first. 

Assembly didn't take too very long, the key was getting a good "tail" on your kite to give it stability in the air...and a good wind. The easterly winds were the best...that made it possible to avoid the big oak trees on the fringe of the par-3 golf course we lived on the edge of and no power or utility lines. 

If lucky, a kite would last you two or three flights. We'd rush home after school and hope for a strong afternoon wind. We had large containers of string...wrapped around a tin can or other cylinder-type device...and the time-consuming part of kite-flying was re-winding theo string if your kite crashed or darkness came. 

Rainstorms were no good. You wound your kite in as fast as possible while you got soaked, or...if it got into a heavy rain...just abandoned ship and staked the string container to the ground and hope it remained airborne while you sought cover. 

By early April, our thoughts turned to playing baseball and the golf course behind us. The golf course opened in April and we lived along the left fairways of holes three and four. We'd grab the three or four clubs we were playing with (I used a 5,7,9-iron and putter) and head to the tee at hole 5. We'd play around to hole nine, where the clubhouse was, pay our 25 cents and go to the first tee. 

The wreckage of some failed kite flights hung from the trees on the course. We'd recall the failures as we toured the nine-hole course. 

On hole three...in the huge maple by the tee box:

"Hey, remember when Timmy's kite dive-bombed in there? I thought he was gonna cry! That was cool!" 

The uncertainties of March weather can mirror the uncertainties of our lives. Dramatic changes in the weather from day-to-day...just as our lives can suddenly go through an abrupt change. Strong winds and the occasional storm...sometimes the unexpected snow fall. Just as life can blow us around, get convoluted and them dump on us when we least expect it. Those bright, sunny and warm days when life is good...

If it all gets too heavy, follow the winds of March. Go fly a kite and hope for soaring results and the avoidance of a crash. As the seasons change, so do our situations. 

Happy March! May your kite sail high and the rains stay away.