In our previous post, we wrote about Springtime: the season just after the cold of Winter and right before the heat of Summer; the season when nature comes back to life.

When it’s Winter, all you see and feel is the cold. When it’s Spring, surrounded by so much life, activity and colour, it’s like the Winter was never here.

Then we wrote, “Such is the nature of seasons: when one comes, it’s like the former was never here.”

This–the tendency to forget that the other season existed when faced with another–we have found subtly problematic.

These stories will illustrate our fear. We shall begin with the transition from the bad to the good. That rarely ever presents an issue. But when it’s from the good to the bad, a memory loss will breathe trouble.

Veronica, her husband Mark, and their three lovely children, after suffering a season of lack due to the loss of Mark’s job, have recently relocated to New Jersey. A tech firm has offered Mark a role.

And true to his nature to stretch things as far as they can go, he rises quickly to a managerial role. Veronica is so happy you’d hardly see her without a smile.

And when Mark gets home, he’s greeted with happy hugs from his wife and children. It’s like the previous season was never here.

For Jeremy, however, he has never known lack. With college professors for parents, he simply towed the line of peace and plenty.

There was no other way to live. Enter Amanda, a lovely lady with middle-class parents. They get married and another season, one totally unfamiliar to Jeremy, hits.

It would have done them good to remember how things were before. It wasn’t always this bad. And it won’t always be this bad. But as is the nature of seasons: the presence of one tends to make you forget the other ever existed. 

So Amanda can’t take it. And Jeremy is fast slipping into self-pity. He could use her support at this point. But all she thinks about is how she can’t continue like this forever. The couple break up. And a beautiful thing ends.

You see, if this couple could understood the nature of seasons, they would have stuck it out. “It’s just a season,” he’d say, “It’ll pass.” She would say to those who cared to inquire about them, “Things are really rough right now but we’ll get through.” And they would! Because that’s just the thing with seasons!

Another will come, especially when you’re doing something about it. So you ought to remember that when the winter hits. Spring will be here.

When it gets rough is not the time to allow yourself forget that things were once good. And it’s not the time to lose hope. And when the good days come, consciously look back and be thankful.

On the next round, you’d be a veteran at weathering seasons. 

We mustn’t let the nature of seasons cheat us of hope. It looks bleak, but hey, that’s how it always looks before Spring. Seasons come, seasons go, we keep living.