Sweet spring.  More than fresh oxygen, and like a miracle sure to faithfully come around again and again, there is a real feeling in the air… almost as if you could breathe all-new clarity & cleanness beyond the lungs right down into your heart.

One moment it’s another winter’s day, until you step outside the next morning and the air literally feels different around you.  It’s more than the warmth of the sun on your cheeks or the sight of robins all at once.  It’s a deeper, more mysterious perception which sets off your sixth sense and then you know: spring is finally here to stay.

In fact, every season wears its own cologne (that is, possesses its own distinct air about itself), and seems tangibly detectable in our very atmosphere:  Summer trends happy, thriving, energetic.  Fall sounds crisp, routined.  Winter intimates coziness, togetherness.  And spring rings pure & expectant.

I love spring for its freshness, a hopeful shift in perspective, and for the nostalgia.

FRESHNESS.  The long, cold winter days are finally spent and all used up.  The world gives up its stale rhythms of hibernation, survival, and endurance as the sun’s thinned rays grow golden and warm again.  New life appears everywhere across nature, and curtains are free to blow in the brisk, gentle wind again.  Finally, our stale rhythms inside the home can blow away with the breeze, and residues of the previous season can be scrubbed.  Nothing feels more refreshing than a clean slate!

PERSPECTIVE CHANGE.  If we’ll embrace it, the perspective change that comes with each season is a real gift.  It can bump us out of ruts and remind us that there is hope and new motivation for every ongoing situation we endure.  No season lasts forever, and that has to be true of aspects of life too, right?  Plus, I don’t know how it happens, but what once looked bleak when it was cold now seems hopeful as the days get longer.  The best part is that these perspective shifts occur quarterly, and are completely free!

NOSTALGIA.  Good old-fashioned childhood memories spring up as soon as I hear rain on the window panes, and catch my first glimpse of a yellow daffodil.  Want to know what else I associate with spring?

• Open windows (fresh air)
• Organizing (spring clean!)
• Umbrellas
• Rain boots
• Yellow slickers
• Blossoms on trees
• Choirs of birds
• Blades of soft, new, green grass
• Daffodils
• Mild, sunny days
• Shedding a layer of clothing
• Mud pies
• April showers
• May flowers
• Soccer season
• Gardening
• Puddles
• Greenhouses
• Thunderstorms
• Going for walks
• Hiking
• Waterfalls
• Lilacs
• New life
• Cabin fever
• Soft earth
• Fog
• Clouds
• Windshield wipers
• Mist
• Breeze
• Busy squirrels
• The sound of rain
• Resurrection Sunday
• Easter hats & dresses
• Worms
• Moss
• The color green

Now as long as we’re discussing word-associations with spring, please would you tell me: what would you add to this list?

Happy Easter from Austin & I, and may you enjoy this spring season more than ever before 🙂