When I took Ryan to work this morning, the crocuses were buds; that was exciting enough. But when Eli and I went to the grocery store this afternoon, they were open and happily reflecting the sun.
Winter always feels so stifling to me. There are fun things about it, but nothing that I would miss if all I could do was visit winter for a few days a year. I don’t know if it’s the cold, or the constant fear of slipping and falling because I have terrible balance, or the cold, or the general greyness, or the cold, or the world seeming to be grumpy and/or dead, or just the cold. Whatever it is, I have a hard time with it. The thaws are enough to get me through but I really would not miss the looooooooong months of winter if I was somewhere that it was always warm and sunny. Even mostly warm and partly cloudy would be great.
I will say this for winter, though. I appreciate spring much more because I’ve been so cold for so long. Flowers are exciting. Wearing sandals is exciting. Not having to bring a coat is exciting. Rolling down the windows is exciting. Leaves are exciting. Going for long walks is exciting. Reading outside is exciting. None of it is run-of-the-mill in spring: it’s all new.
Once summer comes I settle into a rhythm of the ease of it all. It becomes habit to leave at the last minute for things because I can just slip on flip-flops and head out the door. The first thing I do when I get into the car is get those windows down and crank the music up. And it’s fantastic to not have options for what to do shut down because of the weather. Even if it’s pouring, I’m okay being outside in the warm rain. Now that Eli’s old enough to be running around, we can go to the park this summer. I am really looking forward to that.
Autumn is wonderful. The crunching leaves, hoodies and sandals, sweaters and Chuck Taylors, all things pumpkin, and APPLES. There is so much to love about the fall. The one thing I don’t like is the looming specter of winter hovering over everything. Once the first frost hits I feel like it’s all downhill.
But now, friends, now it is spring. And winter is dead. And hope is growing right out of the ground.
