Spring? Spring!

Back in Minnesota where I grew up, winter seemed to get stuck in the dirty piles of leftover snow during these last weeks of March. It took FOREVER for it to loosen its grip and move on. One of the things I like about living in the middle of the country, as I have for the past several decades, is that spring outside my house shows up around the same time as spring does on the calendar.

Its appearance took me by surprise this year. Not sure why I was back in Minnesota mode after all this time, but there I was. I got back from Costa Rica, in the middle of a slush storm, and thought, yup, this is about right. The following week, we got six inches of snow, and I felt right at home.

At least, I felt at home until the snow melted overnight, despite the temps hovering around freezing. To my surprise, the March sun had enough oomph to speed winter on its way. Who knew? Suddenly, it's moved on; we've (probably) seen the last of winter for this year. For the last week and a bit, we've had periods of warm sun alternating with cooler, rainy days - clearly the combination the local plants have been waiting for, because things outside are turning greener by the day.

This week is my favorite week of the year. It's the week where, when you glance around outside,  everything looks just like it has for several months - gray and brown; the trees sleeping away the cold days. But then, when you look a little closer, you can see a halo of green around each one, proclaiming it is time to wake up and greet the season.

The birds outside my window have been paying closer attention than I - I've been waking early to their urgent-sounding song. "It's here!", they proclaim. "Time to build a nest and welcome back the bugs!"

Until they started singing, I didn't realize how desperately I needed to hear their song; needed to know that some things are still going right in the world.

The news from around the world is full of awful images. There are displaced peoples; spoiled children/tyrants willing to kill indiscriminately to try to force the world into a shape more pleasing to their egos. COVID is still a thing, and rumor has it we'll see another surge of cases in a month or two. Our efforts to mitigate climate change have been too little, too late - I fear that die is now cast.

But, also true, the winds have grown soft, beckoning me to come outside and breathe deeply of the scent of spring. The sun gently caresses my face, the flowers are beginning to bloom, and I am reminded that "this, too, shall pass" also applies to the parts of life I don't particularly like.

Good Is.