This winter season has been less than ideal. Even those who loved it weren't overly happy with it. I mean, how happy can you be with it when you have to dig to your car, dig out your car, dig through the five foot ridge of snow left at the end of your driveway by the highway department, and traverse questionable quality roads just to go to your favorite winter sports activity? Let's take a moment to think about having to get too much snow off the roof before it collapses. Let's contemplate how much time was spent clearing ice and using enough salt on roads and walkways that we could start our own ocean. We won't even discuss the extra heating costs brought on by too many visits by polar air even as far south as Texas and Florida. We needed it to end and as of this posting, it officially has even though you may not be able to tell yet.
So, let's talk spring. Let's talk about longer sunny days and warmer temperatures. Not too warm as to be oppressive, just warm enough to remind us that Mother Nature is really not a bitch. There's a whole lot less snow trespassing on my property than there was even a week ago. I can see brown, I can see green, and right now, they're the most beautiful colors I've seen in several months. There are buds on bushes and trees. Birds are singing to claim their place to nest and raise their families again. It's renewal, pure and simple, and it's not just renewal of a natural cycle in the northern hemisphere as our planet orbits the sun, but also renewal of a joie de vivre for most folks, something which tends to hibernate a bit from late December until now.
But, the start of spring is different for everyone. It isn't just a date on the calendar. For some, it's the disappearance of the snow. For others, it's longer days. For still others, it's warmer days and nights. Some say it's spring when flowers bloom. There are those with unique takes on when the season arrives. I particularly like the tradition of when a car falls though the ice on a lake that spring is declared (they reclaim it every year). Unfortunately, that group of folks may be waiting into May for that to happen, given that the ice has been estimated to be at least 2-3 feet thick. My neighbor's take on it is when he can retrieve the ladder that he had to thrust into a snow pile for roof snow debulking without having to walk through the white stuff again to get to it. I hope he doesn't need the ladder before then.
As for me, my start of the season just happens to coincide with the day that spring astronomically arrived. We might have cold temperatures again, but they won't be near, at or below 0°F and they won't stay cold for very long. We may have snow again, but it won't be hanging around for very long. Flowers may be slow to show themselves, but they will eventually and they'll make me smile whenever it happens. Regardless of the timing of the signs that say it's spring, they'll only be reinforcing what I know and feel.
For really, spring is a more a state of mind than it is a physical place in the universe.
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