Porch time returns!

It's mid 40s in Grand Rapids and the suns out! The mail guy is passing with a smile on his face, talking to someone on the phone about meeting for ice cream.

It's wild how quickly the body acclimates to colder weather. I was in the desert for nearly 3 years, and I began to chill around 75 degrees. Now, living in Michigan, it's mid 40s and I'm driving with the windows down, the mail guy is talking about ice cream and I'm debating packing up my porch time early for Furniture City Creamery.

I love spring. I think Spring is my favorite season. But then again, I think every season is my favorite season as it begins. One of the reasons I love Michigan so: the changing of the seasons. The drastic changing of the seasons. Spring is wet and sunny and snowy and bright and gray and butterflies and all the transitional hints between Winter and Summer. Summer is humid and hot and sticky and bright and sunny and rain storms and mosquitos and all the wanted and unwanted points of a Summer in Michigan. Fall is breathtaking. Winter is brutal.

And it is all a mirror for me. I do think there is healing in Winter hibernation, whether that be curling up to read a 700 page book in one dark gray day, or a twilight saga movie marathon during a sleet storm. Edward Scissorhands on big snowfalls, and lighting candles first thing in the morning. There is solace in the seasons.

And as Spring begins and I begin to hear the chirping of neighborhood birds once again, I wonder: what is longing to be voiced within me? What parts of me are beginning to thaw with the snow? What is getting ready to bloom? Is there growing evidence of prior seeds planted?

Here I am, enjoying Spring springing, birds chirping and overhearing developing plans for ice cream. Seeing neighbors I almost don't recognize, not having seen their faces since Halloween. Here I am, also transitioning towards warmer, brighter, more joyous days.