...so it seems everybody from Stephen King to Mixtapes quotes Alexander Pope, 18th century English poet, including me. "Hope springs eternal"... it is a pretty succinct little phrase that crisply sums up the feeling, I would say. I am forever grateful that somehow my genetic gumbo includes a goodly dash of the stuff called "hope" and I can bounce back from life's slippery slopes pretty quickly.
Right now I am making abundant deposits in my repository of hope, by focusing on the quintessentially hopeful wonder of early spring, and the annual bliss that arrives on my doorstep along with the daffodils. Nothing that has ever happened in the past invades this moment to mar the stunning sensation thrumming through my body and spirit. It helps considerably, of course, that the sun is shining today, streaming through my dirty east facing windows (nothing can mar my view, I adjust to the "far" sight!). The implied warmth (it's actually 39 degrees out there) highlights the amazing buds on the acers, the brilliant new chartreuse growth on the conifers and the topiaries, and the blades of new grass reaching for the warmth and the light.
These few weeks are priceless for infusing my spirit with an energy that comes from nowhere else. It's a precious thing that occurs only now, and gets added to my arsenal of superpower tools to make anything possible. I must be alert to every leaf and bud and ray of sun, and feel the pulsing life therein. The old folks talk about the seeds "jumping out of the ground". This is the moment. I must jump with them. Yes, the sap is definitely rising!
There's so much to do. I have moved from the indolence of my winter cave to sniff the air and wonder at the sweet scents wafting my way. It's a treasure hunt to find the sources, some familiar (the indian plum and daphnes, perfect) and the newcomers, finally old enough to bloom (edgeworthia, branching nicely). The search also reveals expectation...the buds of pleasures to come.
If for some reason we can't remember how to do "hope", Mother Nature in all her manifestations enchants us right now (listen! look!) and demands that we cultivate the seedling named hope.
