Spring Has Sprung

It was just two weeks ago that is was so cold you would swear the air itself
was going to solidify and crack. It was just last week that an ice storm hit and
made things into a slippery mess. That's apparently all over now as Spring has
washed over the land like a tidal wave. Out of nowhere it has hgit suddenly and
unexpectedly. 

Everyone has found a  reason to be outside. Up and down the street my
neighbors are cleaning garages, washing cars, or visiting with those so engaged.
I even saw one fellow wistfully working on his lawn mower, yearning for the day
that he can fire it up and do what Saturdays were made for. The roads are packed
with traffic and everywhere the are people. The parkas, hats, and gloves that
were high outdoor fashion just days ago have given way to shorts, tank tops, and
sandals.

We too found reasons to be outside and, just as we were resignedly heading
back home, the mobile phone rang. It was friend asking us if we would like to
come to an impromptu barbecue at Camp Gaea.
Dude, we were there! 

As we entered Camp, we noticed a lot of cars. Someone was having a wedding. I
don't know of a more sacred celebratory rite of Spring but planning an outdoor
wedding during mid-March took a gambler's heart. It could have just as easily
been below freezing with a foot of snow on the ground. Ah, but those in attendance
weren't worried because they simply would not accept that.

As we had arrived first, I got to open up the cabin, which had been sealed up
since the first cold winds blew back in November. As I unlocked the door and
threw it back, the cabin blew out the staleness of the air that had been held
captive for months and breathed deeply of the fresh, sweet air. It felt so good
to swing back the shutters and raise the windows- ah, Camp season again.

Later, as we sat outside under the beauty of the full moon listening to the
celebration still going down at the main hall, we heard a different sort of
party being held in the deep woods. Tree frogs, just a couple of early
risers getting some extra practice in before their fellows and the other
creatures of the night added their whirs, clicks, buzzes, chirps, and other
assorted noises into the cacophony which is the soundtrack for the living
woodlands. As a bass backbeat, an owl hooted and a group of four legged sopranos
joined in with their maniacal barking and howling at the moon.I even had the
first mosquito of the year buzz me. Now where could she possibly have come from.

The fields are still brown and dead. The trees still stand black and naked
with no grass to carpet their domain. However, the message is clear. Life has
had enough of this endless and depressing winter. Regardless of what either the
calendar or the climatological records say, it is now being declared Spring. The
cold and the dark are gone and life is waiting in the wings for the overture to
be played.