Spring Is Here

          As I sit down to write this it is miserable outside. I’m disappointed that the weather has shut me in when I so desperately need to walk. I’m craving fresh air and sunshine but the wind is howling and rain is pelting against the windows like bugs against a bug zapper.

It’s easy to feel that these stormy days are wasted days. But I stop and re-think this and recall the timeless adage that there is good in everything if we look close enough. If we truly ponder this we quickly see that this adage does bear some truth, even if it is cliché.

We need never discard any moment because of its unpleasantness. Every moment does carry a purpose if we are prepared to unearth it. I look beneath my grumpiness and frustration of not being able to walk and I’m surprised by this: a deep and quiet anticipation of the next beautiful day. That anticipation warms me like sweet childhood secrets and I realize that I do not want to squander ANY of the glorious days that I know are to follow.

Appreciation is a simple way to insure happiness – it sharpens those things that we are truly grateful for but often forget we have. Another ‘cliché’ is that patience is a virtue. My favorite synonym for virtue is grace. Can I usher in change and transformation in my life as gracefully and celebratory as nature does in hers?

I was especially reminded of this last week when I took a close look at a willow tree, checking to see if its leaves were starting to bud. (I’m anxious for trees bursting with glorious green leaves!)  What I noticed were soft, fuzzy buds up and down the branches and I instinctively knew what I was looking at: PUSSYWILLOWS!

Seeing this was brand new to me, like unwrapping a surprise gift from a cherished friend. Throughout my life I’ve heard the term ‘pussywillow’ in snippets of conversation but to see them and FEEL them was electrifying.

I wanted to shout it to the world! “Hey, come on over here, everyone. You HAVE to see this!” I knew this was a sign of spring – a promise from this newly erupting season: “Watch for me, I’m on my way!”

Quick research gave me a name for those buds that march up and down the willow branches. They are called ‘catkins’. Long before the male catkins come into full flower they are covered in fine grayish fur, like tiny cats or ‘pussies’. They appear long before the leaves and are one of the earliest signs of spring. I read that they can appear as early as mid-March. A promise of spring that early? What a glorious idea!

As spring unfolds, birthing new buds, my challenge is patience. Can I give myself the time to unfold as nature gives spring the time to do the same? Can I embrace the difficult days as fervently as I embrace the joyous ones? Will I allow time to unravel the knots in my heart? Will you?

Sasha, always smiling!

Originally published in the May 10th, 2010 issue of the WRFP