As the sun shines outside and the March Madness brackets have been revealed, it occurs to me that we are already midway through the month of March.
There are lots of reasons that spring is my favorite season. For one, my birthday is at the beginning of April and, although I never plan a large celebration for my birthday, it is always a fun excuse to order a cake and treat my family and friends to a nice dinner out. As an avid college basketball fan (and Michigan State alumna), spring also represents the beginning of the NCAA college basketball tournament. This tournament, aptly known as March Madness, is an exciting showcase of the best college basketball teams in the country, full of small schools playing in the tournament for the first time, and larger schools whose trip to the tournament is an expected journey each year. There will inevitably be upsets and heartbreaks until only one school will emerge as the champion for this year. For those of you who are not sports fans, all of this sounds crazy, I'm sure. It is just a game, after all. But for those of us who either have a connection to a certain school or are just fans of college basketball, these next few weeks are some of the most thrilling of the year.
But enough talk about basketball, right? The real reason that spring is my favorite season is that I always feel renewed in the spring. As the much needed rain is expected to fall this week, I know that it is nourishing the plants that are just starting to blossom. Soon, there will be fresh flowers everywhere you turn. The temperatures will warm up, walks in the park will become more frequent and the fresh fruits and vegetables that California is so famous for will be ripe for the picking. Some of my happiest memories of going to school at Cal Poly are those early spring days walking around the campus and just letting myself soak it all in: the fresh flowers, the newly born baby farm animals, the distinctive ping of a baseball on an aluminum bat and the joy and excitement that everybody I passed seem to be exuding.
Life can have a way of getting even the most positive of us down, especially after the anticipation and happiness of the holiday season has come and gone. The January and February days and nights are long and cold and we think that sunnier and warmer days will never come again. But, like every year, the sun and warmth do come again. Now, it is our responsibility to go out and enjoy everything that spring has to offer!
Maybe I'll see you at the Farmer's Market soaking up the sun and fresh air.
--Kathy