Hello Neighbor!

After being cooped up in the house for the past year to say that I’ve been looking forward to the onset of spring would be a gross understatement.  Springtime always elicits a sense of renewal, reawakening, and rebirth for me, but especially this year.  Longer days, birds chirping, and the promise of beautiful buds protruding through freshly mulched flowerbeds inform us that it is the season to begin anew once again.

My birthday falls during the last week of March.  Growing up, my grandmother’s gift to me would always be a new spring jacket.  I think that I’m the only person who can recall the weather on birthdays past because my ability to wear my new birthday present would depend on whether March 25th was leaning more towards lamb than lion.

Regardless of my outerwear, I always like to take stock of the year that has passed at my birthday.  What a year it has been!  I’ve had some insight not only into the truly important things in life this year, but also learned that enjoyment can be derived from the mundane.  Spending time with loved ones, delighting in the latest work from a favorite author, or enjoying a leisurely walk around the neighborhood with my canine child, Tanner, have taken on greater meaning.

So as life begins to resume to some semblance of normalcy, let’s not forget the gifts of this past year.  And as we move forward through this season of rebirth, let’s lift our faces to the sun, take time to stop and smell the roses, and recall the words of the author L. M. Montgomery who noted that “one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs.”

Happy Spring!
Gina