A Spring Day

Today I ventured out of hibernation and took the dogs for a walk apiece. Glorious day!!! My heart is filled with thanksgiving as I sit here back at home with the heat off and the windows open wide to the sounds of water dripping off roofs and running down storm sewers, wind blowing, and happy kids exalting in how good it feels to be out in the sun.

I was walking Schubert when the bus dropped off the high school kids at the corner of Choke Cherry. There are about 100 of them; they used to be in elementary school together, and then middle school, and now they are all in high school because this is a pretty single-generational neighborhood. Off they all came, hopping down the last step off the bus into the wind and sunshine and puddles, landing all around us like raindrops. And Schubert, with the wind blowing back his furry ears, looked this way and that in delighted confusion not knowing whom to pounce first.

The internet says it is only 49 degrees, but I think it must be at least 57. I went for a walk with my jacket unzipped all the way, and a strong spring wind blowing in my face, and I still worked up a slight sweat. Given those facts, I'd guess it was more like 65.

Generally, I am not much for demolition phases. When our bathrooms were remodeled, the first day when they tore out all the old stuff was by far the most traumatic for me. I do, however, take great joy in the demolition of winter. There is little more satisfying than the sight of a snowbank shrinking, decomposing and trickling down a drain. As the banks thin and take on that crystalline look where you can see the particles of sand suspended in snow, translucent now instead of solid, foreboding white, you just have this feeling of triumph, and you know it won't be long before the daffodils arise.

We had a blizzard on Groundhog Day this year. My heart has this crazy, cock-eyed hope that we really will have an early spring. Anyway, we are having an undeniably beautiful spring day today, and for that my heart rejoices.