Oh, this weekend was such a gift. The first days that we were able to be out of doors truly more than in...in what feels like such a long time. After a long winter, the spaces around us feel new in a way to each and every one of us. I watch as my much more mobile almost two year old moves out there like she hasn't been able to do in the snow. Excited to run, eager to follow along, she falls down in the mud, turning to us, puzzled, as to what to do next. Cry? Ask to go inside? Get picked up? I see her wondering. A big brother or sister swoops in with a lift up and a sweet word, we teach her to brush her hands together to get the mud and dirt off, with a quick wipe on her pant leg to follow. And she carries on. Again and again she does this, navigating a space that she hasn't visited this way in a very long time, and even then, in her body with far fewer abilities than she has now.
It's like that for all of us, to one degree or another. Getting reacquainted with the space out there, and with ourselves too, in many ways. Stretching our arms as wide as we can...moving our bodies without the constraints of heavy winter layers...and without the snow to slow us down. And this weekend, closing our eyes and turning towards the sun. Imagining all that this season will bring. Enjoying right now.
Today is back to the cold and damp of April and we are huddled by the woodstove once again. But it feels different now. That glimpse, those moments, were just what we needed to know that Spring is Here.
