A spring in your step

Spring into action. Spring fever. Spring has sprung.

Spring is a season of renewal, warmth, and new life. It really is an interesting time. Oh, it can be a tough one for the weatherman and woman. One day temperatures dip down to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The next day, it’s in the 70s and you feel like an idiot for wearing that heavy sweatshirt.

I find that the season reminds me of a whole list things (in no particular order):

–Mud. It’s the time of year when cold winter days give way to warm sunny ones. It’s punctuated with lots of rain and flooding. In short, it’s a muddy mess.

–Cherry Blossom Trees.

–An empty tomb and the resurrected Jesus.

–A lesson I learned from my high school track coach. He used to tell us to push it around each turn on the track. The idea was that you push it until the end. An English teacher who saw something in my wordy drafts phrased it another way. She would tell me “to give me your best now, work hard through the spring, and celebrate in the summer.”

–Invictus.William Ernest Henley wrote the poem Invictus recovering from severe illness and the amputation of his leg. The poem touches on resilience, self-reliance, and mastering one’s fate despite adversity. “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” From the cold winter, comes the warmth of spring.

–Bunnies. Wild rabbits typically have babies from March through September, with peak breeding occurring between March and July. They have short gestations — often 3 or 4 per season —with 4-8 babies each. Nests are shallow, grass-lined ground depressions, often in open yards, lined with the mother’s fur. 

–Jelly beans. Oh, I’m not talking about the jelly beans you find at Easter. I’m talking about Nerds Gummy Clusters, Big Chewy Nerds, and Sour Patch kids. Oh the sugar!

–Flowing rivers, beautiful ponds and lakes, and streams full of fish.

–Ice cream trucks.

–Daffodils and tulips. They represent joy, strength, and resilience. They’re a positive, life-affirming symbol as they flutter and dance in the breeze.

–“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.” Unless of course, we’re having a drought then come again and again and again until the water table recovers.

–Car washes.

–Baseball First Pitch.

–Green, green grass.

–Scholastic books and elementary school book fairs.

–Birds chirping.

–And on yea, one more thing . . . Hope.