Marching into Spring?

If March comes in like a lion it's supposed to go out like a lamb -- but if it comes in like a lamb, it's supposed to go out like a lion.

Confused? March is. March used to the be first month of the year, and for good reason: In the Northern Hemisphere March is the month when the icy grip of Winter is broken, at least occasionally, and for short periods, and the first tentative sprigs of green poke carefully out of the cold, dead ground. But there's no straight-line progression: A snowstorm may follow close on the heels of a 70-degree day. That's confusion.

March is the time for new life and renewal -- perfect symbolism for Lent and Easter -- and, this year, for Western Christians, Easter will arrive in March, on the 31st.

In March we wear green for St. Patrick on the 17th, and red for St. Joseph on the 19th.

We're still wary of the Ides of March, March 15, that fateful day in 44 B.C. when Julius Caesar finally grasped the point that some of his fellow friends, Romans and countrymen weren't entirely thrilled with his one-man rule. It's a wonder that the IRS doesn't make personal income taxes due and payable on March 15 instead of the 15th of April -- but corporate tax returns are due on the Ides of March.

Not surprisingly, March will be Irish-American Heritage Month.

But March is also Expanding Girls Horizons in Science and Engineering Month and International Science Month, National Middle School Month, Honor Society Awareness Month, and Music In Our Schools Month.

March is Cabin Fever Month, but Spring Training and the World Baseball Classic are underway in March, promising eventual relief, and relief pitching, to even those of us in northern climes.

And March is Red Cross Month and Women's History Month.

March is also National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colonoscopies are invasive and uncomfortable, the preparation is difficult and not a little disgusting, and getting one when you're supposed to just might save your life. So deal with it. In March perhaps.

And, finally, in March we celebrate Humorists are Artists Month. We hope you will, too.