Melissa Westemeier

When I was young I remember making umbrellas out of construction paper and our teacher hung them on the classroom wall with the words " April Showers Bring May Flowers ." In May we cut tulips and other flowers from the stack of construction paper to replace those umbrellas. The smell of Elmer's Glue brings me back in time... Spring's a sloppy season for Midwesterners. In a single day we can get snow, sleet, seventy degrees and sunshine, a tornado warning, and torrential rain.

Every time I travel I wind up thinking, "Mel, you gotta make time for more beauty in your life. More art. More nature." My heart and...