SPRING IN MY STEP

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On Saturday, March 20 at 5:37 AM, in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring sprang. It also sprung. Whichever:  yaaaay!

Yesterday, daughter Alex called to tell me she spotted little green shoots rising from the dirt by her back fence.  (Remember Robert Benchley’s words: “You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had a little sense knocked into it.”)

Today’s PORTLAND PRESS HERALD reports that tourism in Maine is showing significant signs of recovery. In Kennebunkport, “The Breakwater Inn and Spa is fully booked for weddings and is now scheduling people for 2022 and beyond.” (”Seasons change and so do we.”) 

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Mid-morning here in south Florida, the showy Tabebuia trees are announcing the first day of Spring with their profusion of yellow blossoms. (Bloom, baby, bloom)

Despite a pandemic that continues to rage, with sobering and frightening variants, these happy harbingers put me in a puckish mood. The Spring we couldn’t celebrate in 2020, which we saw looking out the living room window, can’t be denied this year. 

So as we begin to step outside, still carefully masked and Purelled for sure, let’s celebrate the new season with words I appreciate (and wish I’d written myself).

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SPRING……Warm today, cold tomorrow.

I’m sorry for the things I said when it was winter.

Girls just want to have sun.

Say aloe to my little friend.

I wish the first day of spring was actually the last day of winter.

We were mint for spring.

I lilac the spring.

Keep calm and go outside.

A clean house is a sign of a wasted life.

Bring on the flip-flops, green grass, blooming flowers and singing birds.

Spring is the perfect time to turn over a new leaf.

“The earth laughs in flowers.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“Despite the forecast, live like it’s Spring.” (Lily Pulitzer)

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” (Lady Bird Johnson)

“If we had no winter, the Spring would not be so pleasant.” (poet Anne Bradstreet)

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” (Pablo Neruda)

My favorite — words penned by Hans Christian Andersen:

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.” 

I’m so ready.