​​It Really is Spring

It wasn’t a hard winter weather-wise. We never had to crank up our snowblower or even take out the snow shovels. It was pretty cold over Christmas, but otherwise it was a fairly gentle winter here in Annadale.

All things considered it was mild. So why am I so excited it’s spring? Every tree and plant that is budding and showing its lovely leaves is like some sort of manna from heaven for me.

I think it’s because in 2023, I see so many people and organizations trying to find their pandemic “new normal.” Traveling and social events are flourishing. To mask or not to mask and do we hug or touch elbows or wave to each other? How much to social distance and what if we want to but others crowd up? It can be challenging to figure out what the expectations and norms are now.

But here we are! Discovering what works for us and what doesn’t. Some trial and error in social situations and some reminders of how we interact face to face again instead of Zoom meetings.

It’s exciting and challenging and it can all be so new again. Kinda like spring itself.

I really enjoy this poem by Billy Collins and I hope you do, too. Welcome, spring!

Today
by Billy Collins  

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage 

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.