It's Coming

Spring begins March 20th. I know this because my birthday is March 23rd, even though I was supposed to be born March 17th, what a fun birthday that would be!

I've announced that I will not be wearing my large poofy coat after Spring begins. Period. Okay, maybe I will-- only if it dips below 40 degrees and remains hovering at 40 all day long. Forty is my breaking point for the extra warm coat.

In anticipation of the coming Spring, I am doing a little inventory and thinking on the things I will miss once Spring does arrive. Among these are: my red velvet heels, my teal wool sweater from Banana Republic, red lipstick, tomato soup, gray wool cap with sparkly gold thread throughout, brown fingernail polish, black knee boots and tights. I am trying to incorporate some/ all/ any of my favorite wintery things in my life during the upcoming week. And I am aware I can eat soup in June (although I should probably not don my velvet shoes) but these are winter's pleasures.

All in all- I'm ready for Spring. Just yesterday I saw signs of Spring peeking out of the dirt in flower beds. Brown fury shoots are beginning to emerge from the bark of trees that once lay covered in snow and ice. I know Spring in the Northeast may not really feel like Spring until mid-April, but being able to observe the progress is exciting: longer days, lighter coats, Easter candy in the drug stores and my birthday.

I do look forward to open toed shoes, tank tops, sunglasses, freckly shoulders and sitting outdoors. I look forward to: eating fresh tomatoes, white blazers, running outdoors and being able to walk around the city instead of taking the bus. The cold and darkness of winter is so heavy. It weighs mightily, bearing down with great pressure, on so many of us, I feel. We carry around more- physically, mentally, emotionally.

Winter brings frailty, loneliness, dis-contentedness and which often results in soul searching and facing down demons we've been avoiding during the warmth of Summer. It's easier to be still and comfortable in a beach chair listening to the "shoosh" of waves as they lap up the sand. For me personally, I'm trying to make a very conscientious effort to live outward these days. To look, listen, feel, observe. It's easy to zone out. On the iPod and iPad and iPhone.... (not that I have all these, I'm just saying).

As Spring brings life again, I too hope to open up and burst through; to breathe life into these lungs once more. During the darkness of winter it's easy to forget the other side and all that waits to come alive.