a brand new season.

the golden sunlight plays through my bedroom window as i sit here and write. the lumineers singing on my record player give homage to the long summer nights ahead. it’s a lazy afternoon. the first truly spring day of the year and i’ve just spent the last few hours soaking in the warmth of the sun. writing notes to friends, reading essays about nashville, dreaming about springs spent there as a child & laying with my face tipped up towards the blaze, eyes closed tightly. today at church, someone said that this is the first day in five months that the temperature has been over 68. FIVE months! that’s almost half a year! no wonder we were getting so stir crazy! but the slow daze of today makes up for all of the past winter days. the smell of freshly mown grass is in the air and the river birch out front is thrilled to be thawing; it’s branches dripping a mixture of dew & sap. 

i’m really not much of a writer. i did like grammar and spelling in grade school (though i purposefully break many rules now that i’ve learned them). i’ve penned handwritten letters since before i knew how to shape letters into words. and i do my best to keep a personal journal... but none of that has turned me into a structured writer. nor is it the same as well written stories, essays & the like. in high school i groaned over papers. to this day, i’ve never broken the habit of run-on sentences. but despite all of that, somehow, on days like today, the inner writer in me comes out. someone once said, “spring makes each person a poet”. i’d have to agree. 

on our way home from church, the chillens asked to go out to eat for supper. but instead, we stopped & got the fixins for a semi-asian meal. orange chicken, fried rice (everytime i say those two words, i think of a chinese man saying them with his accent and it sounding like 'flied lice'), & chow mein noodles. it didn’t turn out as good as everyone was hoping but it was our first meal of the season eaten on the deck and therefore special. so no one complained. 

==pause while i flip the vinyl over==

about this time each year, i sit down and start a bucket list of sorts for the warmer months ahead. this year the list includes things like >>> learn to drive stick shift. cook with fresh seasonal ingredients & grill often. invest in an actual camera bag (shamed to say i’ve made it this far without one to protect my gear). host at least one summer dinner party. take plenty of roadtrips to see friends. find some small green plants for my room. take a picnic dinner to a drive-in theater with friends. explore anywhere and everywhere. spend more time in the garden with the earth between my toes & fingers.

this time of year brings out every sentimental bone in my body. 

well the sun is beginning to fade a bit and i want to catch the last few rays, sitting out front with my family, so until next time... 

i’d love to know though. what’s on your spring/summer list this year?