Spring Blooms and Hope

I have a very strong memory of this week last year. We were one week into the shutdown and things felt very dark and scary. I remember saying to my husband, "The next time we see Spring blooms life will be much better." (If you'll remember, by the time the City shut down on March 16th, 2020, many of the trees were in full bloom. It was an odd time of too-early Spring beauty and fear.) And I held to that. I just wanted to fastforward to Spring 2021. To keep myself sane, I wrapped my heart around one more planetary revolution around the sun. I couldn't control the number of people in ICUs, but I could hold onto that. The earth would keep doing its thing.

In March 2020, we didn't know if or when we could re-open, we didn't yet know the scope of the pandemic, we didn't know when we'd be able to buy toilet paper or hug our loved ones. We didn't know if there was a safe way to operate in the new normal. WE didn't know if any of the vaccines would work. Some people were optimistic that life would return shortly. I was not one of those people. For people with anxiety, it was a period of doom scrolling and fear. (And it's not over, but there is hope.)

Looking back on the year, in some ways it was much worse than I ever dreamed, and in other ways, I feel blessed that my family, employees, and friends have stayed safe. A lot of people have commented on the great things that have happened in the last year, and there are surely positives to come out of this. For me, I'm grateful for another Spring season, that the last year is behind us, and the first crocuses of the year are popping up in their tiny glory.

Spring has always been a season of revival and if we're lucky, we'll get to experience 80-90 Spring seasons in the course of our lifetime. Here's hoping that you feel a bit of hope every time you look at the blooms over the next month.

Picture of mighty Bella among the tiny crocuses at Hawthorn Park with Minder Emily.