Hope Springs Eternal

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. I love the hunker down feeling it brings - the cool, crisp air, the shorter days. It's such a welcomed respite from the draining heat of summer. Life falls back into it's usual pattern. School comes, football games get played, holidays are around the corner. The food and colors and smells of fall are comforting and affirming... family gathers together - holidays get celebrated. Fall is wonderfully warm and cozy.

Lately though I find myself looking forward to spring. For the last several years spring has been a difficult time... unpleasant things have typically happened and I'd grown to distrust this time of year... grown to look toward the warming weather and new life that spring brings as a sign of possible destruction. This year I am feeling a little differently - this year I am actually anticipating it's arrival. I'm not sure what's changed my feelings, not sure what's set me on a hopeful track... but no matter - the feeling is here and I am cautiously embracing it.

Love Grows...

I'm looking forward to the change in weather - looking forward to the feel of the sun on my face. It will be so nice to open the doors and windows and feel a breeze blow into the room - a breeze that wraps warmth around me instead of cutting me with a chill. My father will resume his weekly trips to the house - he'll cut my grass and trim the bushes, weed eat and tidy the lawn. The smell he leaves behind is so green and alive... so hopeful. It makes me smile.

I'm looking forward to digging in the earth. I once loved to garden and plant flowers in the pots around the porch and on the back deck. It is something I've neglected doing in recent years - can be sorta tricky if I remember correctly. The deck gets a whole lotta sun, which is great in the spring but waaaaaay too much in the summer. I need to invest in plants that can take the heat - my only real luck has been with coleus... I'll go with that again. On the front porch I can plant petunias... there will be shade for them so they won't scorch in the heat that May will invariably bring. I will buy ferns to hang from the front porch and birds will build nests in them and I will have to be careful how I water each one... but I will get the pleasure of watching new life. The mother bird will screech and dive bomb the cats if they get too close - always an amusing distraction.

The spring will be busy, hectic - dance competitions, recitals, a GRADUATION! I plan to finally paint my living room during this spring break (any offers of help? lol!) and who knows what other fun filled, exciting, unexpected moments are around the bend?