CLEVELAND, Ohio — I felt it the other day, expected it really. And it came in as I knew it would.
That day at 5:24 in the afternoon, I simply paused my routine to note its coming in my special way. Yes, I felt it. Maybe you did too.
On March 20th, we tilted toward the sun just as it crossed the equator, bringing spring to us in Earth's Northern Hemisphere. The moment the Earth's axis increased its tilt to the sun, our daylight increased.
The rest of nature took note.
We left the official winter behind. Not that it has been especially rough in Northeast Ohio. Winter was somewhat mild. Mostly. Lightweight when compared to what Mother Nature usually offers for winter.
Still I celebrate spring for it brings new growth. We've come a long way over the last few springs. This time three years ago, we were headlong in the COVID virus reeling from what seemed a topsy-turvy world. The spring of 2020 rocked us and would do so for many season changes as science searched for a vaccine.
Sometimes, it seems so long ago, because so much has happened since we first heard the word COVID. But now we speak of it less and less. Still we are not out of the woods totally yet. But we are changed.
So I take my walks, celebrating the new spring, glad to welcome it and bid farewell to winter. At least for a while. But along the way, I've come to realize in a dozen changes from one season to the next, much in our lives has changed. As a society we are trying to step into the new normal, whatever normal has come or will come to be. Even normal seems in constant change just as the seasons of the year. So in this new, yet old, seasons of spring, I think about that.
The renewal of spring reminds me to be eternally hopeful for the future. Every day I look for more signs of spring's rebirth.
The signs come slowly but they do come.