Spring has Sprung...a Little Early
Oh, Mylanta! Next Wednesday it is going to be 66 degrees with only a fifty percent of rain! Yessirreee Bob! Spring does not come at once or directly when the White Witch finally loses her power in Narnia. It comes in spurts or as I put it…with harbingers indicating that more is to come like the 66 degree day I am waiting for in just seven days time like a hungry puppy dog waiting to be fed. The harbingers stand out more prominently during one’s childhood when the approach of the seasons indicate joys to come such as snow days, barbeques, trips to the beach, and my favorite holiday of Halloween. Spring officially came in my life when I noticed the perennial buds poking their way through the earth as a very young boy. Or the red buds decorating the driveway pavement to indicate the approach of full-blown vegetation.
The only bad thing about spring is the opportunistic pests and insects that make their unrelenting emergence almost overnight. In my opinion, God should impose a one-month grace period after the weather officially becomes really warm at the end of April. The insects with the exception of butterflies and ladybugs should remain in hibernation so they will not pollute our newfound joy. Rain is unfortunately a side effect of this season and it is like that ice cream headache that people get while consuming the goodness too fast. It seems like there must always be side effects to life’s joys.
I am looking forward to springtime for different reasons than before. Number one: I joined the Biggest Loser Challenge with my colleagues at Living Resources, Inc. I would like to believe that it is going to be easier to exercise when it is nicer outside and maybe one of these days I will even take a bicycle to this here class. Number two: There is also a new passion for picking up litter created by people who cannot handle storing their cigarette butts and feel it is necessary to ruin the planet by dropping it on the ground like it is just not a big deal. Cleaning the filth in Albany is easier when the weather is nicer and garbage is not covered by ice and snow. There are far more of us than there are of them and if they choose to litter forever then their damage will not be apparent if we work together to pick things up once in a while.
Even though I am Jewish and do not technically celebrate Easter…I really like the Cadbury Chocolate eggs that only come around springtime. There are also more parades and I always enjoyed Memorial Day Weekend, which many people consider to be the first major harbinger of summertime. How many of you enjoyed the simple pleasures of the changing of the seasonal guards when the dandelions would come into bloom. As adults especially those who have to take care of a lawn…most of us see dandelions as annoying weeds that deserve to be run over with the lawn mower. But back in the day they were beautiful flowers and we enjoyed the simple pleasures of blowing on the dandelion puffs without realizing this would spread more weeds and make other people’s lives miserable!
