We made it!!! Give or take a few more chillier days, SPRING HAS COME. I was beginning to think we were too far up North in Yankeetown for it to ever get its lazy ass here.I celebrated the first warm day by simply walking through the city. What I noticed was:
- mother nature waving her arboreal wand, turning on blooms in random trees and bushes like light bulbs
- freshly planted tulips in the little boxed-in tree gardens along the avenues
- gusts of wind so sudden and warm i found myself grinning so widely it forced the ipod buds out of my ears
- the more adventurous restaurants opening up their patios to the even more adventurous patrons who stopped by for a cappuccino or salad on the street
- a few simple souls chucking their scarves and jackets, bravely exposing their fish belly-pale skin and comfort food-fed stomachs
- passersby actually returning my smile with an appreciative one of their own
- patches of sunlight beaming down on me like a good ol' jazz song
I told myself before I moved here that I wanted to witness the changing of the seasons again. After 9 years in California, I became spoiled and felt it was time to jump into the real world. Apparently, I was in for more of a shock than I expected. The winter came with her hardened witch's fingers creeping down each vertebrae of my spine.
But now I can feel her relenting, knot by knot. With each one released I am reminded of what it means to feel the cycle of seasons whole and raw again. And I am comforted. Soon I will break out my flip flops, my coconut tanning oil and the mojitos and margaritas. Ah, New York, you are finally beginning to speak a language I can understand...and in doing so, becoming my New York.
