Monday Moment - Hope of Spring

Everywhere I’ve lived, people have said, ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes.’ And regardless of whether I was making my home in Illinois, Kansas, Washington DC, or upstate New York, I’ve noticed that the weather occupies a significant portion of just about everyone’s conversation. Good or bad, the weather gives us a context for what we choose to do and how we choose to think.

In the course of the last week, our western New York weather has ranged from sunny and balmy 40 degree days to mornings of 3 degrees above zero and wind chills I’d rather not acknowledge. It has certainly not been a dull week!

I’ve heard one or two people grousing about the severe cold weather of Thursday and Friday last week – and undoubtedly they had more reason to be outdoors in those uncomfortable temps than I. But even among the grousing, I heard – and felt – a sense of hopefulness even on the nastiest days.

Here we are in March, after all, and even though we northeasterners know that winter has not blown her last unpleasant days our way, we can’t help ourselves. We can’t quell the hope that the idea – just the idea – of spring brings us.

In some ways, this is one of my favorite times of the year – the hope of spring. We still have lots of snow cover – for today anyway - so when the sun shines, it shines bright and sparkly. It’s brisk enough to encourage one to move at a pace that’s brisk enough to warm our muscles and flush our cheeks, but not – usually – biting at noses, ears, fingers, and toes. And the hope of spring season invites us to lace up our boots and get right out there in it!

Last Sunday was such a hope of spring day, the very kind of day that invited me to walk to our favorite weekend breakfast spot – 3.1 miles and 63 minutes on occasionally snowy sidewalks away. I was surprised following that outing how much my shins ached for several days. I’m active, but I haven’t walked 3 miles on pavement for a while and I felt it. ‘Hmm,’ I thought, ‘I’d better work up to that next time.’

The last two days have also been hope of spring days – interspersed on Saturday with big fat fluffy flakes amounting to a fresh inch of sparkles. Remembering my achy shins from the previous few days – all better now – I opted to walk through my back woods, across the fields and through one of our town’s most charming and historic cemeteries. Some pavement, some snow-covered soil, and no pain at all.

That was encouraging – and quite beautiful – so I opted to repeat that route again yesterday. This time I remembered to take my camera, and spent most of my full 63 minutes on the paved cemetery roadways. It was gorgeous! Brilliant light, sharp exposed bones of trees, rushing creek attempting to break through the ice, and a herd of seven deer brave enough to stand and look before showing their white tails as they bounded toward less occupied woods. All captured in digital format!

And today, not a lick of ache in the old shins. It seems I have more reason than just the weather to feel that hope of spring!

May your coming week be filled with hope!