Spring!

While we have had a few days here and there where the thermometer passed the magical 70 degree mark and teased us into believing that spring was here, it looks like the real thing has come to stay. There is nothing quite like it. It happens every year and every year I am awed by the changes in me and my view of the world. Winter, mild as it is here in silicon valley, has once again been overpowered. The earth has turned ever so slightly and the sun burns away the fog, the cold, the rain, the clouds. The ground begins to warm and the unseen magic occurs before our very eyes. While pulling weeds is far from my favorite thing to do it brings me into direct contact with the spring mud that holds the magical mysteries. The worms. The bugs. The shoots waiting to burst forth. As the weeds are wrestled from the ground beneath, you feel the resistance as the roots pull back. It's almost like they are begging you to let them stay in the womb of mud they have created. With the roots come the mud that is attached. As it is knocked off you see and feel the differences in the layers of soil that have all come out together. The browns, the grays, the blacks. Out come the worms and they quickly find their way back into the soil to the home they are constantly recreating. The aphids pop in and out wondering what is causing this grand disturbance. Every now and then a snail is uncovered and the new found friendship my class has helped me foster with these creatures keeps me from tossing it over the gate. And above you, you suddenly become aware of the birds and the insects that are signally the auditory signs of spring. What could ever be better than this? Your own dirt becomes one with your skin, slides under your fingernails and becomes a part of your very being. I am reborn.