There’s something…perplexing…about this time of year. It’s not quite winter but not quite spring. On the one hand you have winter dying away—the snow is melting off, you start worrying about those guys stoically sitting out on the now-melting lake, your winter coat becomes more annoying and less beneficial, and the sky is this kind of gray like it can’t make up its mind about what to do. At the same time, spring is coming to life—the days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer, there’s a general brightness in the air—like the sun is getting brighter but the clouds are diffusing it, you start thinking about swimsuits, skipping class, Spring Break, and frolicking outside.
While the death of winter and the birth of spring may seem like the same thing…or at least similar things…and definitely positive things…I think we underestimate this time of year. We’re in such a hurry to rush into Spring. We complain about this time of year and sort of step out of our lives in anticipation of the start of this new, better phase of the year. But I think we miss things by doing this. No matter what you do, spring is not going to get here any faster. And if you focus on the future, you miss the present. I’ve never been a huge fan of winter (except for the snow—sledding down Liz Waters hill rocked…go 12-person tray-train…Bradley rocks) but suddenly I’m seeing things that are beautiful in this classically-ugly transition. There’s life in the air. Not the bursting, high-energy life of spring, but the quiet, precocious shift between the budding life of spring and the easy death of winter. A vacuum is created where you can stand in one place (picnic point is especially good for this, but anywhere outside will work) and feel both the end of something—the nothingness, the sudden absence, a kind of echo in the air—and the beginning of something—soft light, barely-there movements in the air, the sound of things melting.

Bottom line: Get your ass in gear and stop complaining. You have a choice each day to be happy or not—screw saying it depends on what happens to you—there’s always something positive, but you can’t ignore it. And if you do ignore it, stop complaining to me.