I can’t speak for other parts of the country, but here in Charlotte, we saw what, in my opinion, was one of the mildest winters in recent memory, with temperatures rarely getting low enough that one needed more than a zip-up fleece jacket to keep warm outside.
That said, the winter months were typical in other ways, windy and not leaving much in the way of color on the trees, bushes and ground outside of the faded shades of brown, orange and red that the autumn months left behind.
This is one of those winters where Punxsutawney Phil was right in his “prediction” that we’d have an early spring, with several days in February reaching into the high 60s and going into the low 70s. March has already seen an 80-plus-degree day.
Because of that, the spring blooms also started early, with the redbuds and cherry trees already bursting with color, and the azaleas (which my dad planted many years ago) and Japanese maples not far behind.
Flower gardens full of thrift, daffodils and other flowers in a neighbor’s yard are also sprouting nicely, with the pink magnolias doing their thing, presenting like an image straight out of Southern Living magazine.
Along with this has been the reemergence of our male and female cardinals, which we didn’t see much of in the wintertime but who we see now several times a day at our bird feeders, with one of the female ones looking puffy like maybe she’s about ready to lay an egg or two.
The chickadees, red-headed sparrows, fox sparrows and wrens have also been present, but the bluebirds? Not so much. We miss them and hope to see them and their beautiful plumage around very soon.
A year ago when I wrote my previous spring column, my mom was getting ready to finish the last of her scheduled rounds of chemotherapy for colon cancer, and we made plans at the time to spruce up the front patio with some new furniture and plants. We even contemplated having a flower bed put in.
While the flower bed idea was put on hold for the time being, we did fix up the patio, and pretty soon there will be new furniture, which will complete the outdoor projects we started last year. This is one of Mom’s favorite times of the year, and my goal is to take full advantage of it so she can enjoy every moment of the season, much like my dad did when he was still with us and when he could still walk out to the wooden yard swing.
As I’ve said many times before, the arrival of spring and all that comes with it gives people a renewed sense of purpose and gets them motivated to reconnect with family, neighbors, their community and nature.
It’s also a time for people who spend more time working than playing to take a pause, a breather, to sit back and enjoy, to be amazed at God’s artwork, and to understand that there is so much more to life than just work.
Ernest Hemingway once wrote “When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people, and if you keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”
That’s a quote to keep in mind not just this time of year but year-round.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah, and she is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.