Slowly & Steadily Running From Winter

Today, Modern Philosophers, was the first full day of Spring.  I don’t know about you, but I woke up to find snow on the ground.  The lingering leftovers from the blizzard of Tuesday and Wednesday made my world look more like the Curse of Eternal Winter than the Promise of Spring.

Then I had a Deep Thought or three, and decided that I was going to take control of my Seasons.  I’ve always believed that the easiest way to get through a stressful time is by playing mind games…if I can distract myself from the stress and make myself believe I’m in a better, happier place, then all will be well with the world.

Clearly, this theory is a work in progress because I’m often miserable and bitter and ready to go ten rounds with the world just to prove that I can still kick its ass.  Plus, I look damn good dancing around the ring in my toga and boxing gloves.

Little Orphan Annie kept her promise and the sun did come out tomorrow, with tomorrow being today.  Clearly.  Try to keep up here.  Yesterday was the first day of Spring, but it snowed.  Today is tomorrow and the sun came out.  Sure, it was only 40 degrees, but for Maine in March, that’s a heat wave, baby.  That’s more than enough reason to throw a Toga Party, Modern Philosophers!

I made up my mind that I was going for a run after work.  The sun was out, the calendar said it was Spring, so I was going to ignore all that snow and take my exercise outside.  Of course, the sidewalks were still covered in snow (really, Town of Brewer?  I pay an insane amount of money in property taxes…doesn’t that at least get me plowed sidewalks?).  So I took it to the street.  And that was even better.

I had Foo Fighters and Audioslave blasting on my MP3 player.  I kept thinking about The Girl Who Always Ran With Me and might’ve even convinced myself she was right there next to me.  Whenever my legs started to feel heavy, I cranked the music a little louder, looked up at the sun, and thought about how awesome it’s going to be when I can put on my short toga and work on my tan during my runs.

For the worst part of my run, I focused on a mental image of a single yellow tulip.  Not only does that picture have a deep, personal meaning for me, which pushed me to find another gear, but it also reminded me of Spring…the season that is taking over and shoving Winter deep into the back of my closet of bad memories.

It wasn’t my best run, but it was exactly what I needed to convince myself that Winter was gone and won’t be back until I’ve enjoyed Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Sure, that snow is still going to be out there tomorrow when I head to work, but that doesn’t mean that my mind won’t be cluttered with yellow tulips, bright sunshine, and the image of a certain brown eyed girl in a sundress beckoning me to dance with her on the front porch.

Happy spring, my friends!