Can I share a secret? I really dislike spring. Well ... I LOVE spring, but I also hate it. Spring here in the American midatlantic is such a Thing, it goes On and On, it produces So Much Color and there's So Much Life Force that I find it overwhelming. Spring is so In My Face, it makes me feel fully alive on all levels. And ... it gets on my nerves.
I feel like a teenager in springtime: moody, I mean. I move from the highest high to the lowest low, sometimes within a matter of a few minutes. Then I look in a mirror and realize I'm 58 years old which gets me even moodier. There will be a perfect day of 70 F. weather with a soft breeze which both seduces me and makes me self-conscious because I know it's time to get the first pedicure of the season, shave my legs and GOD, they're so WHITE and so OLD. And FAT. Sounds just like an adolescent, eh? Such unnattractive thought forms for a middle aged lady.
Then a stormy series of days comes up so then I'm bitching about having to wear shoes and jeans again. Cranky cranky cranky ... also: laughing, jumping around, dancing like a maniac ... that's me in springtime.
I'm allergic to spring. Ever since I started seeing the Sufi acupuncturist, my allergies have become much less virulent, but nevertheless there is a period that lasts several weeks, just as the roses are blooming at the end of April, when I itch and sneeze, grind my eyeballs into my skull, blow my nose incessantly. Oy vey. Spring!!
Of course: I love spring, too. The bursting of the the beautiful blooms mirrors the way all the people get outside like animals leaving their burrows at the end of winter. It is so great. I hear people talking and laughing, Eastern Market is bustling. It's a season of hope and cheer that I welcome, especially after the long, cold, discouraging winter just past.
There is no time of year when I feel less in balance than at spring equinox. Go figure.
14 comments:
I love spring, but yes, all the blooming is a little crazy-making. Just this morning as I drove to work I could feel my head tighten up. And we don't even HAVE any blooming yet.
The nice thing about living in the part of the country I do is that when I break out the old, fat, white, slightly hairy (I get 5 o'clock shadow) legs for the first time I'll just be part of a vast wilderness of similar legs. :)
Yeah, here, too. Maybe not the fat part, but the white part definitely.
Self-consciousness is such a singular activity. It doesn't matter that everyone else has white legs. As if anyone really cares what my legs look like!
For heaven's sake.
i so definitely HATE winter that spring can't come soon enough for me. I think i am already dreading next winter,,, lol
not me. I love it, love it, love it. I even love spring fever. I never want it to end because when it does then it's the long hot slug through summer. of course I don't really suffer from allergies.
Oh my goodness, I TOTALLY understand this! My moods are all stirred up right now... and I can't help but feel those life-force stirrings and then look at my middle-aged saggy self and think: are you kidding me? what young man's fancy would this appeal to??? And then of course I think: and why should I care?!?! It's so funny being a human... :)
Karen you are SO not saggy. For heaven's sake.
I just love, love, love it all the way. Seeing magnolia blossoms open THRILLS me. Feeling proper sunshine again makes me feel ecstatic.
Having said that, I'm not allergic to anything but cedar. So that probably helps.
I just realized that I've left almost the identical comment to Ellen's! How funny.
Clearly "one love" is not enough for spring-lovers.
I'm looking out at .... snow! :-(
OMG...those pictures are AMAZING! How can you NOT feel a little crazy and self conscious when faced with that kind of in-your-face beauty?
Like Ellen, I don't suffer from allergies much anymore, so I'm wildly content (oxymoron alert) with spring and all her glory. I wish it would last far longer in the midwest than it usually does.
Your legs carry you where you want to go, right? That's all that's necessary...break 'em out and have a great time!
I'm so glad that Spring is finally here! It's fun to see your photos of all the flowers blooming a little ahead of time in DC - I think we're about a week behind you out here in the burbs.
Oxymoron alert? LOVE THAT.
Jo all day today as I walked around I was thinking about how perfectly FANTASTIC it will be next Tuesday when you arrive. And Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday. You are gonna LOVE it!!
Wow, I can understand perfectly! I'm not much allergic, but the drastic changes in temperature & humidity make me exceedingly cranky! The only thing that redeems me in this humidity is a stiff breeze that helps dry out the air & makes the heat bearable. Spring & summer are my least favorite seasons!
Just when I was getting all psyched up for spring, a snow storm arrived from Alberta during the night and I am buried in the white stuff once more. I wonder if the word "snow" has a "no" in the middle for a reason? You, my American friends will be basking in the summer sun I fear, before the spring equinox showers it's scents and colors north of the 49th. I loved the "Not so Equinoxesque" title, Reya and the way your text was virtually buried in pictures of blossoms. Just the thought of all that pollen made me sneeze. I'm keeping the hair and the fat on my legs until the snow shoveling subsides. It's warmer.
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