Spring This Year . . . Maybe Twice

I left Kansas City in mid-March for a two-week trip to Washington State. It was still winter in Kansas City when I left, barely any sign of green in the lawn, and only the beginnings of daffodil shoots.

Azalea & heather in Pacific Northwest

Azalea & heather in Pacific Northwest

I arrived in Seattle to cherry trees in full bloom. The azaleas had blossoms, and even the rhododendrons were budding. I saw flowering plums, magnolias, daffodils, tulips—a cacophony of color against bright green lawns and trees. It was spring.

The showy displays surprised me. After all, Seattle is farther north than Kansas City. Shouldn’t we get spring first? But a long, cold winter in the Midwest trumped latitudinal lines. The Pacific Northwest has had lots of rain and a mild winter—causing the terrible mudslide in Oso near Seattle.

It has been a winter of discontent, one disaster after another. Problems with the healthcare launch. The Ukraine. North Korea. A lost airliner. A devastating mudslide.

We wait for good news. And we wait.

I returned to Kansas City this Monday to temperatures near 80 degrees. Surely this meant spring was here. But the grass is little greener than when I left. Few trees have leafed out. The neighbor’s forsythia has only a few flowers. And rain is predicted for the rest of the week (with a possibility of snow).

Still, my magnolia tree has some blossoms.

View of my magnolia this week from my office window

View of my magnolia this week from my office window

And when I went through my posts from last year, I discovered that last spring came late as well. It wasn’t until April 15 that I posted the picture of my magnolia in full bloom.

So once again, spring will come. If I wait.

And maybe this year I will experience spring twice. Worse things could happen.

What signs of spring do you see around you?

 

Posted in Philosophy.