Springing to Life

I'm not a big fan of winter, but I love spring. Winter is scenic and everything, but it's cold, and the scenery is only good during or immediately after a snow storm. Once the plows clear the streets, or the snow starts melting, it's just dull, gray and cold. Spring, on the other hand, is when everything comes to life. You can leave the windows open because it's warm, the crickets chirping lulls you to sleep, and the birds singing wakes you up. The trees start sprouting leaves, the grass turns green, the flowers start blooming... how could anyone not love spring. (And I'm saying this as an allergy sufferer!)

At the same time though, I've recently (by recently, I mean the last few years, not the last few weeks) noticed that my appreciation for, and activities during spring are significantly different than they used to be... not just as a kid, but also as a younger adult. When I was a kid, I did the same stuff that all kids did during the spring. I rode my bike, stayed out later, climbed trees... you know, kid stuff. As a younger adult, I'd still ride the bike, and do "outdoorsy" things, but I also started throwing in stuff like mowing, planting and so forth. I hated it, but I knew they were chores that needed to be done.

In recent years though, I think I've started turning into a massochist. I'm finding that I don't spend as much time riding my bike. I'm spending far more time working on my yard. The crazy part is that I'm actually enjoying it! When the weather started warming up, I started looking forward to grabbing the rake and clearing the winter debris from the yard; somewhere along the line, I've ceased thinking of yardwork as a chore, and started considering it exercise and a worthwhile long-term project. It's like when the world starts springing to life, I want to be there to cultivate that life. Equally important though, is the fact that this work gets me off of the couch, and gets me outside and active. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to grab a rake and get outside. DOH!! I forgot, I've got to fix my garbage disposal first. Okay, garbage disposal, THEN yardwork.