Thinking About Spring

"It is the first day because it has never been before and the last day because it will never be again. Be alive if you can all through this day today of your life." -Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life


I had my windows open today. It was an astonishing 74 degrees. I walked to the bank and there were dozens of people on the streets. Students sipping iced lattes, whistling construction workers, people asking for directions and dinner dates. I love the way cities come alive in the spring.

What is it about this season that seems to have us all twitterpated? Are we simply mimicking our friends in the animal kingdom? I wake up from a long, secluded winter and fall in love with humankind as though I had forgotten others existed. I want to roll in the new grass and dance down the sidewalks. It's like a fricking musical. And I wonder if any of this gloriousness would be possible without the dreaded winter.

I claim to hate winter. Strike that, I very much hate winter. (Though there is something breathtaking about the first snow of the season. Damn nature and her infinite beauty!) I do hate the frost-biting cold that makes your bones ache. I hate the gray dark days that make your soul ache. But I love the relief and the romance of spring. Would the changing of the seasons captivate me quite so much if I didn't feel like I had survived something?

We all come pouring out into the streets on days like this to congratulate each other. Shaking strangers hands, "We made it through another one!" Of course I can be thankful looking back...but I guess I need to learn to be more appreciative in the moment. Learn to forecast these positive outcomes and take the bitter trials for what they are.

Even so...I think the Midwest could tone it down a bit. I promise to appreciate the coming spring even if the depths of winter only plunge us to 20 or 30 degrees.

Love in the Movies

On Valentine's Day (I'm only a month late with this post...) Ed and I watched Sleepless in Seattle. I'm not sure if this is tradition, but it usually ends up happening. This year we watched all the special features. The Associate Producer/Writer, Delia Ephron, had a great quote:

"Once you've fallen in love, the only place you'll ever fall in love again is the movies."

She continued, "You go into a movie theater and you get to re-experience, through someone else's love affair on the screen, all the feelings you had when you first fell in love. And I think that's one of the wonderful things about going to the movies."

I'm trying to decide how much I agree with her statement. Movies have an undeniable power and influence in our lives--possibly the strongest of any medium. Movies combine the beauty of words, images, and music to create a complete experience for the viewer...


However, I believe that literature can have a similar power. We can experience falling in love again at the hand of Jane Austen or Henry James. And, as an added bonus, we can embellish the story with details from our own memory or imagination, making it that much more personal and intimate.

I also believe that we can recapture those first feelings of love with each other. When my husband does something sweet and thoughtful, it reminds me of all the reasons that I fell in love with him. And it's like falling in love all over again.

I guess love is just very versatile. Or maybe I'm just very lucky. We can experience love through books, music, and movies, which is fantastic, but it may not be necessary.

What is necessary: good men.