It was one of those spring days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: When it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. – Charles Dickens
Spring is fleeting. It is perhaps the most storied of all seasons given its symbolism. It is also a bit irksome in its indecisiveness. Is it warm or cold? Wet or dry? Still or blustery? Calm or tumultuous? Maybe it passes so quickly because it feels transitional.
One of the things we have learned from our nomadic life is that nothing is transitional. Every moment is all we have. Life is now. This year, instead of wanting spring to make up its mind as we wish for winter’s final bow and wait longingly for balmy summer days, we are revisiting spring around the globe. We want to enhance our appreciation of the NOW, therefore, opening ourselves up to springs’ splendor while simultaneously grounding us where we are currently planted.
Spring in the South of France
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” – Henri Matisse
Spring in Tuscany
“Five tender apricots in a blue bowl, a brief and exact promise of things to come.”
– Frances Mayes
Spring in Portugal
“Distant but unforgotten glory is something of a Portuguese specialty.” – Conde Nast
The Annual Neighborhood Bullfight – A Window Into Portuguese Culture
Spring in Ireland
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
– W.B. Yeats
Spring in the Italian and Swiss Alps
“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” – Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Astounding Alps: What Mountains Teach Us About What Matters Most
Spring in Spain
“All my life is in Spain. I will stay.” – Paz Vega
Spring in the USA
“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heartache, you want it so!” – Mark Twain
Spring in New Zealand
“Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance. The cloud clears as you enter it … I have learned this.” – Beryl Markham, West with the Night
The beauty of travel reminds us that as we welcome spring, many countries in the Southern Hemisphere are seeing the autumn colors flocking their trees. For us spring in New Zealand was around November …
We look at every season as a window into ourselves.
Perhaps spring is not indecisive, but all-encompassing. It is not either-or but AND. It is verdant and barren, sticky hot and frigid, roaring and soothing. It is hopeful and reflective, soaked and sun-drenched, spirited and still. It is spring and it deserves our attention for it has the power to unleash and crack open those parts of ourselves that have been dormant for too long. It also, however, gives us the freedom to let some things go that no longer serve us. It is a beginning and an ending, and in the blink of an eye, we can miss it. This spring, with our eyes wide open, we are committing to remembering springs past, dreaming of future springs in far off lands, and most importantly appreciating the season we have been given right here, right now.
