May the best most random "I don't watch basketball much" bracket win.
                                                                        ~Unknown

One day last week my husband announced, "It's time to fill out brackets." I gave him one of those insincere smiles and eye rolls. He considers it a fun tradition. I feel my participation is merely amusing him. I've been called "sports challenged" more than once by more than one person. I'm okay with that. But the funny thing about the whole bracket routine is that more times than not, I end up doing better than my husband and son. And they know what they're doing.

My first experiences pretty much involved picking names of colleges somewhat randomly. I have always picked Gonzaga because the name tickles my fancy. Then I made it more complex by considering if a college was in our state, if I've been to the state the college is in, or who had the cutest or best mascot. I eventually noticed, or realized, what those little numbers by each college team meant. Bonus! Not really sure if anyone ever mentioned that to me, or if they just assumed I knew. Not.

At first, we picked teams all the way to the championship. That's probably the "official" way. But it sure gets messy. Then one year it was suggested (not by me) to pick each round as they come. "Whatever you say, dear."

Naturally my goal has become to outdo the guys. But I often find myself rooting for the underdogs, despite what my bracket says. Sometimes I deliberately pick the underdogs. And when they win, that's awesome!

We won't know how all this plays out until March Madness is over on April 2. Kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Shouldn't March Madness be over in March? Just saying.

"In like a lion..."

For my many years teaching elementary aged children, each month brought a theme. Sometimes more than one. March always posed the riveting questions, "Will March come in like a lion, and go out like a lamb?" Or vice versa.

In 2018, Northeast Ohio definitely experienced the "in like a lion!" Let us hope it exits like a lamb.

The first day of March brought an all day rain event. It was a "quack, quack, waddle, waddle" kind of day, as my daughter and I called it when she was little. Our backyard looked like a dismal swamp. Then around 9pm the rain changed to snow, the wind howled, and the lights flickered...until about 10 when there was complete darkness! When the flickering started, I got the flashlights, just in case.

We reported the outage, and then went to bed. The earliest power "might" be restored was 1am.

It did get a little chilly, but I am grateful for our down comforter that kept me toasty all night. I am also grateful for the walls and roof of our home that sheltered and protected us from the storm. I am grateful that no trees fell around us.

When we got up in the morning, we had close to a foot of snow. We live on the cusp of the Snowbelt. It was really a winter wonderland as I looked outside at trees flocked with snow and the ground covered in a white blanket. Power was restored about 10am. We had sunshine all day and the sky was clear and blue. By early afternoon most of the snow had blown, or melted, off the trees. A lot of snow disappeared from the rays of the sun, helped by the very wet ground. And our backyard looked even swampier with all the huge puddles merging.

March had made its grand entrance, and now it was calm after the storm. A lot like life, I'm thinking.

PS- I apologize for no post on 2/25/18, as scheduled. A virus, the germy kind, knocked me for a loop! I had thoughts, but getting something well written just wasn't in the cards. Stay healthy!