At nearly any time of day you can see us: my fellow citizens in confinement, trudging along on the sidewalk. When we meet up, we walk single file, or veer away into the street. Anything to keep our distance. The skies are cloudy, the air is cold. We plod on, hands in our pockets, masks pulled up high. Like prisoners in a chain gang, with the marvelous exception that we do look up and smile at each other.
Suddenly, we think that maybe, just maybe, we hear a robin singing. Could it be? We notice it, but just keep trudging. No need to get overly optimistic. After all, it is still cold and the skies remain gray.
My friend, Laurie, calls to see if I would like some pansies. I am not a gardener, but I do love flowers, and I’ve been told that these blossoms can withstand cooler temps more than other flowers. I am thrilled. Of course I want pansies! Anything to brighten up the drab scene in my backyard. Gray or brown is the predominant color, and pansies do the trick.
Soon, I really do start seeing the robins, the crocuses in our neighbor’s garden, tree branches starting to bud, and yes, the slow melting of all that snow.
What surer sign of spring and good things to come than all that?
Then, as so often happens in Minnesota, Mother Nature drops another 6” of snow. We go back to trudging. Even so, my pansies endure.
But soon, thankfully, we see that spring, like these hardy pansies, has not been defeated. Yes, the sun is shining (well, sometimes), and now I am seeing the bright yellow goldfinches at my feeder and daffodils about to burst forth.
My delight today is the season of spring. The beauty of spring, and more than that, the resilience of spring. The resilience of us.
We will not be defeated.