The Spring Cometh: A Retelling

Once upon a time, there was a mother who loved her daughter very very much, so much in fact that she failed to see that her daughter had grown up and needed more from life than her mother could give her. Or perhaps this mother was so fearful of having to share her beloved daughter with another that she refused to see the woman her young daughter had become and so hid her away from the eyes of men. But one man saw her, saw her and braved the mother's wrath to have her. Some say he abducted her, but others say that the maiden went willingly, charmed and awed by the dark stranger in black who lived on the wild side. Following her heart, or perhaps just her hormones, she fled her mother's loving tyranny to be with this stranger who promised her a taste of life. When the mother found out, she sank into a deeply, self-absorbed depression from which she could not be roused. She lived for her daughter, and without her had lost her own will to live. That others depended on her for their own wellbeing and that she was responsible for helping to care for the children of others did not matter to her. All that mattered was her daughter and getting her back. As it happened, this mother had very powerful friends, friends who intervened on the mother's behalf, either from sympathy for her plight, concern for the daughter, or impatience with the mother's nagging and manipulation. In any case, these powerful friends found and returned the maiden to her mother. But the maiden had eaten of the fruit, that forbidden fruit, and could never again be content to be just her mother's little darling; thus an understanding was reached by which the maiden would spend a portion of each year with her darkly handsome stranger and the rest with her mother. And so it has been since time out of mind. Today, on the spring equinox, the maiden climbs out of the depths of satiation and returns to her mother.
You probably all recognize this as the story of Persephone, queen of the underworld; Hades, her abductor; and Demeter, goddess of the earth. I think Persephone grew tired of simply being the adored pet of her mother and so went willingly with the alluring Hades. Think about it girls, when you were a teenager, would you rather have been the apple of your mother's eye or the prom date of the bad boy? Yeah, we all know the answer to that. Hades, in addition to being the god of the Underworld is also the god of sex, luck, and money. Is it any wonder our girl Persephone fled Mommy Dearest and ran away with him? But today, on this first day of spring, she returns, because a mother's guilt is a mighty powerful thing. So as we look at the calendar and rest assured that warmer days are ahead and enjoy the lengthening sunlight, remember Persephone, putting on her brave face while she thinks of her lover and counts the days until she can return to him. So if you can find some time today, have a drink and maybe a smoke and offer up a toast to Persephone for being the good daughter that none of us wants to be.