Today is the most perfect tribute to springtime I’ve ever experienced. Those of you still slodging through gunmetal winters, take a deep breath and imagine…
Pastel-tinted sunbeams bounding through your open window.
Tufts of sky-scented breeze rolling end-over-end like cotton balls at play.
Ice cream swirls of pink and white dripping from shy tree buds.
Bird chirps like flutes and oboes and tinkling celestas, piping grace notes over the mid-day traffic.
Fresh laundry line-dancing (ha!) for the joy of warmth and light and newly unfolded air.
Springtime in Texas, where I grew up, is really more a melty form of winter. The sky takes on the surly color of old pipes, leaking gray water continuously until summer hits it suddenly with a wrench. Texas never really gets cold, but its Februaries and Marches suck out inner warmth like zombies, complete with the drooling and the clammy outstretched fingers and the diseased-cow moaning. (“Uuuuunnnnnnnhhhhhhhh.” I have no nostalgia whatsoever for the sound of spring.)
This winter has been a rodeo for me… and not just me, I suspect. One of our friends told us the other night that he has two wives–a cold-weather one and a warm-weather one. I understand, though I often wish I didn’t. Surviving winter can be a fight, a constant bundling and layering and gritting teeth; it’s a struggle to unclench, a struggle to thaw. However, when the outside world suddenly softens and blooms, I feel myself relaxing. My pent-up tensions drift away on a stray breeze. I lighten up.
There may be a month of winter left, but my mind is bursting ahead into spring. I’m already thinking in terms of strawberries and open windows, flower pots and Easter egg hunts, swinging with Natalie and picking daisies with Sophie. I’m taking the heavy blankets off our bed and planning picnics, and oh, it’s a much-needed loveliness.
What springtime hopes are warming your minds today?
Everything you said and then some. Just some sunshine would be nice. And some crocus. And a warm breeze instead of a stiff one. Everyone seems to have the end-of-February-blahs…thank you for pushing past that and opening the window to let the fresh air in.
It’s been pretending to be spring in Seattle for the last week. Too bad I spend my days stuck in a cubicle that is as far a possible from the window on one side and the skylight on the other.
Ugh, I SO needed this right now! It is cold, grey and rainy in Philadelphia today and I am sitting in my room, dreaming of spring. The thing I look forward to MOST is getting to take my young students out to the playground everyday, of not having to worry about coats and hats and gloves for them or me. But also, it’s the smell. I love the smell of spring. I love the sense of rebirth and light and warmth. I love how it makes me want to get up and live, as opposed to winter days like this where I want to hide beneath the covers and never come up. Thanks for this bit of hope 🙂 xoxo
running without the rain in my face 🙂
winter here is torturous because you never get the satisfaction of snow – nor do you ever really get spring – it throws you a bone now and again but never lets you settle in with any one season. Yesterday is was 87 and today 55.
You know, I miss the colors, but I also miss the smell of spring.
I noticed some birds singing last Sunday. That was a good sign. And I know robins will come around soon. I drove to work/school sliding all over the road after last nights snow. But I am hopeful! Spring is so in my heart 🙂
A high of 68 & a low of 42… clear blue & sunny skies with just the right amount of gentle breeze to break the stagnent silence. Gotta love a good Ft. Worth, Texas winter!
Lizardek – Is is just me, or has the end of February been around for WAY TOO LONG now?
Tom – Sorry about the cubicle. Maybe you could make your own personal skylight?
Frankie – The Philadelphia area is where I first learned that seasons could change (coming from the South where hot weather gets slightly-less-hot for the winter). I hope you’ll get playground-worthy days soon!
Jo – I actually kind of like running with the rain in my face… at least in the sense that it distracts me from the agonizing pain of my body getting exercise. 🙂
Jennifer – The smell is one of my favorite things too. I love how you can smell spring coming before any other signs become noticeable.
Jesse – That’s not winter; that’s summer on crack!
Ah, yes. But I can wait. Although it tried to SNOW today. That is just WRONG.