As spring pushes its way through the brown stubble of last year’s lawn, it is not only a sign of hope and new life, it is also a rejuvenation for the soul. The long days of winter’s domination are coming to an end, and the freshness of the new season is stepping forward to stake its claim. You throw open all those windows that have remained shut for months, turn on the attic fan, and pull the fresh clean air inside your home. In doing so, you are forcing out the last remaining dregs of the stale winter.
The once-drab colorless landscape is suddenly bursting with tiny green sprouts reaching for the sun. They are soon joined by the bright yellows of the jonquils and the daffodils along with the crocus and tulips that are all competing like contestants in a springtime beauty pageant.
The blazing pink of the japonica and the violet hues of the plum trees and the crab apple are subdued by the clean white blossoms of the Bradford pears. Every where you look, your eyes are feasting on the beauty and you know that spring has arrived.
Your sight however is only one of the senses to reap the benefits of the new season. The sounds of spring’s echos can almost transport you to a different time and place. In the distance you can hear the roll of thunder from an approaching storm or the sound of a whistle from a train, and it seems like you are devoured by nostalgia for other springs, other places, other years. It is not a feeling you can explain, but it seems as if you are torn between events from yesteryear and your youth, and the present with its promise of good things to come with the season.
You hear the droning sounds of the insects as they emerge and begin their life cycles while flitting from blossom to blossom in their never-ending job of pollination. You are treated to the symphony of the mourning doves as they call for their mates, and the constant chatter of other birds as they are busily weaving their nests in readiness for the eggs which will soon be transformed into baby birds.
Your face is caressed by the kiss of the spring breeze and the tender warmth from the sun, and your know that spring has arrived. You are content to spend more and more hours outside filling your heart and soul with the effects of the season after months of cabin fever during the quickly fading winter.
You can catch the smell of spring from the lavender that is spreading its tendrils along the edge of the patio. The freshness of the air after a sudden spring shower also has a pleasant aroma of its own and as you dig into the rich soil you can actually smell the promise the earth is making for the seeds you will be sowing.
The sounds of children laughing and playing outside and of dogs barking in the distance inform you that spring has entered the picture. The sound of the wind picking up speed and whistling through the blossom-laden trees, the flash of the lightning dancing from cloud to cloud on the far horizon and the threat of vicious storms and tornadoes confirm that spring has arrived.
Then you see grandma pick up her trowel, pull her wagon filled with bedding plants to the garden area, and bend to her knees as if in prayer, and you know without a doubt, that spring has arrived. Thank God! Beautiful spring has arrived!
