Many Joys of Spring

The asparagus is coming on strong now.  The patch that Mom put in 35 years ago petered out about five years ago, but thanks to the birds, the ripple effect is going strong.  I have three spots in the front pasture/garden that are producing enough for Mike and me, but the Mother lode comes from a secret location, also planted by the birds, for which we compete with neighbors…I mean share with neighbors.  The fact of the matter is that I can never seem to get too much asparagus.  Don’t like it?  More for me!  I’ve planted an asparagus Bed at three of the homes that I’ve owned, and have never lived in a given location long enough afterward to enjoy it.  I sure hope someone is enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Asparagus is one of my favorite parts of Spring.  Hand in hand with asparagus come the morel mushrooms, none of which have been found on Peace Acres so far this year.  Oddly enough, when we do find them, they are generally right along the driveway, sometime actually in the gravel at the edges of the driveway.  This time of year it can take me 10 minutes to drive up the driveway after work, as I roll the window down, and creep along with my eyes peeled on the grassy edge, too excited to park the car and walk back down the drive.

It is much, much easier to come across a morel mushroom in Iowa.  In fact, Mom and Dad found a few along the walking path where they, and many others, were walking daily last Spring.  Though Dad isn’t in good enough health at the moment to go on those strolls along the path, I hope Mom will find enough for a pan-full, at least for herself, as she loves them so.  They tend to appear around Mother’s Day in Iowa, so that would be a nice gift from the earth for her.

Asparagus, morels, and Mother's Day take me back to 1996 to the best morel Spring ever for my family.  My brother, Dan, struggling with complications from HIV, had been horribly sick, and was very near death at one point in 1995.  His doctor finally discovered the exact illness that was affecting him.  Histoplasmosis—a common airborne fungus that can be fatal in those with suppressed immune systems if left untreated.  After extensive and horrifying treatments with Amphotericin B, known also as AmphoTERRIBLE B due to its extreme side-effects, followed by treatment with the newly-prescribed protease inhibitors, Dan began to spring back.  Fortunately for him, when he regained his health, there were a few months in 1995 that he could never recall.

In a healthy individual, the CD4 helper white blood cell count is between 500 and 1,500.  In an individual with a compromised immune system, the CD4 cell count can drop very low, leaving the individual's immune system unable to fight infections such as histoplasmosis.  Dan’s count in 1995 was very low…somewhere in the low two digits.  In the Spring of 1996, he and the folks came to Iowa for a visit over Mother’s Day.  Sister Brenda and I were both living in the Iowa City area at that time. 

Two wonderful things happened during that visit.  We found the biggest haul of morels in our family history.  It seemed that we couldn’t miss.  They were everywhere we sought them.  We had such a great time, and took many great pictures.  The second wonderful thing was a phone call from Dan’s doctor, letting him know that his last CD4 count had come in at over 700!  That one probably still stands as Mom’s favorite Mother’s Day.  I never eat a morel, or even fresh asparagus, without being reminded of that blessed Spring and its' many joys.