Hope of Spring

I usually feel it right around the first of March.  It’s a mental and emotional shift after the long, dark winter months.  The days finally feel longer. Everything seems a little brighter.  At our house we begin talking about taking the 5^th wheel out of storage and preparing it for travel adventures.  By March 1^st I begin to get itchy about being out in the yard and spotting those first shoots of new grass, buds on the trees and early flowers.  It’s a hopeful feeling that looks ahead to putting away the heavy coats and switching from boots to sandals.   It’s time to start placing the feeders for the returning hummingbirds.  Everything about this time of year feels new and fresh, like life starting over.  Sometimes the weather can still remind us that it’s not officially spring yet, but it doesn’t tend to dampen my spirits, knowing that frosty mornings and flakes of snow will be short-lived.

I’m a summer girl through and through, but there’s something special and optimistic about early spring.  It always feels like a great time to start something new.  I have more ambition and energy and I feel inspired to take on new projects or explore new ideas.  I realize that this phenomenon is a northern hemisphere thing as below the equator, they’re moving into fall.  The farther north you live, the more you appreciate the first signs of pre-spring in March.

This is the first March in over 20 years that I have not been working and it comes with a newfound freedom to enjoy the turning of the seasons.  It feels especially celebratory.  I have time to play more, get outside and wander more, read and write more. I can take advantage of sunny days on my mini deck soaking up a bit of extra Vitamin D.  I appreciate the flexibility I have to enjoy lunches out with friends and additional date nights with my favorite date. I’m loving slow-start mornings and the more relaxed schedule.  I like this new phase of life and I’m enjoying that my head and heart feel more content. I’m grateful and blessed by the difference that affords new possibility and I don’t want to take it for granted.

So here’s to March.  It’s one of my favorites.  Even though there are very hard things happening in our world right now, I wish you peace and contentment, and joy in the change of seasons.  Or as the Irish blessing says, “May your days be many and your troubles be few.  May all God’s blessings descend upon you.  May peace be within you and may your heart be strong.  May you find what you’re seeking wherever you roam.”  Cheers!