Spring

Well, after a horrendous winter (see prior posts titled "Really?" for proof), it is so nice to see spring finally come. The weather is getting warm and sunny. Daylight lasts longer. The trees are in bloom. I can't stop sneezing and am back on my Claratin routine. Ah, spring!

But, the last week or so, we've been hit with the traditional rainy spring weather. It's been cool, damp, windy and downright unpleasant. But, I can't help but love this weather. There is energy in the air. You can feel the season change around you. It is so strong of a feeling that it always takes me back to one of my favorite childhood moments.

I grew up in an old house with a detached garage. My mom drove a big suburban that couldn't even fit in the garage if we tried. So, my mom let my sister and I turn half of the garage into our playhouse. It was filled with old furniture, dolls, doll clothes, play dishes and various other items my sister and I would use to make our garage a "home". It was my place, no one bothered me out there, and I was really away from everything. I loved it.

One of my favorite aspects of playing outside was just that-being outside. And, as a child, I especially loved being outside during the spring and fall. It filled me with the same emotions I feel today. I can vividly recall being outside, clutching a doll and a wheelbarrow, and looking up in the sky to see gray clouds rolling in and just knowing, feeling, that a change was coming, whether it was the oppressive heat of summer or the cold, brisk winds of winter. I loved being out there and being a part of it. I loved feeling it. I wrote a poem in college where I explained is as "feeling the cold seep in through the bottom of my feet". And I still feel that that is the perfect way to capture it.

Being an "adult" now, I often get caught up in the day to day business of my life. But, it's nice on these strange spring days to take a moment, feel the weather around me, and be reminded that the child in me is not so far away.