Dear Spring
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Dear Spring,
You’ve never been my favorite. You bring pollen galore and buckets of rain. You require frequent mowing, dressing in layers, washing the car and wiping down the porch daily. Your coats of pollen have me sneezing and rubbing my eyes while my head throbs. In short, you make me uncomfortable and create work, so I’ve never been particularly delighted to see your arrival.
But I confess you are growing on me, Spring. Listening to birds this Lent was the first internal shift. Their presence was a reminder of all the life around me. Birdsong is evidence that I am not alone. I still have so much to learn. I’m not a full-fledged birder by any means. But I can tell when there are different kinds of birds in the trees calling to each other. I’ve learned to pause at the chittering and chirping to wait for a glimpse of who is sharing my backyard today. Instead of your presence being just an inconvenience or a sign of summer on the way, I’m beginning to see the real you.
For decades, you were just a stop on the way to summer, Spring. Perhaps that was shaped by growing up on the Gulf Coast where summer was interrupted only for minor holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don’t love all that summer brings with its heat, humidity and long days. Your presence has generally been greeted within me as a sad shift away from the invitations of fall and winter to slow down, rest and hibernate.
The year I had cancer, I received the official diagnosis the day before Thanksgiving. That winter was occupied by surgery, recovery and radiation. When spring and summer arrived, I was dismayed that I’d missed my chance to rest with the seasons. How could I face spring and summer without living fully into fall and winter? I clearly managed it, but I was ever-so-grateful to have fall arrive the next year.
This spring had several advantages. It was my first spring with the screened in porch I’ve long dreamed of. It’s been drier than usual - I’ve never longed for rain quite like I have recently. It’s also been cooler than usual. I’m so grateful to have lingered in the 60s for a few weeks instead of jumping straight to the 80s like we often do.
But my feelings for Spring are not just about these external factors. I am shifting and changing. I have gone from too little free time to too much. The need for shorter days and cooler weather is less urgent in me. Perhaps the dark has done its work and I am ready, like you Spring, to let growth explode in and around me.
Perhaps you love spring and always have, but if we’re alive hopefully we are growing and changing. What’s an internal shift you’re noticing? Are you welcoming the change or resisting it?
Book Corner:
What I’ve Been Reading Lately
via library loan:
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer
What a fun and surprising book this was! I enjoyed The Lost Story by Shaffer enough that I bought it for each of my daughters for Easter. The Book Witch did not disappoint. This book followed my reading of The Astral Library -- both are books about books and I liked this one even more than Quinn's offering. The Book Witch was somehow whimsical and serious, with a great message about living life fully.
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
I needed a change of pace after two books about books. I’m enjoying this mystery set in 1970s Yorkshire with primary characters who are tweens. There’s something familiar about their free-range childhood that reminds me of my own (tho I didn’t have a serial killer on the loose at the time).
via audiobook:
Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing by Lili Taylor
I enjoyed, but didn’t love, this book. I liked the way Taylor shared her encounters with birds across many places since her work takes her to various locations for stretches of time. I also liked the anecdotes when she waited for an anticipated bird. This book made me long to lean into my curiosity about birds and their place in my world.
May you welcome with curiosity the changes that are happening in and around you.
Peace & Grace,
Shannon