I want SPRINGTIME!

I know it's only the middle of March.  I know that here in North Carolina we could actually have another month of off-again on-again cold weather.  I know it could even snow.  But I am soooo ready for warmer weather.  I want to see green leaves sprout full out on the trees.  I want to see budding flowers push through the soil and wave in a gentle breeze. I want to feel the sun's warmth on my face, my arms, my back.

I want SPRINGTIME!  

In the meantime, the earth is warming and even though the temperatures are still dipping low there are signs of new life.  The grass around my apartment building is turning a patchy bright green and golden sunshine pours through the double windows that frame my view of this miraculous new birth.  Birds are calling to one another and flying in pairs, searching out a nesting site.  Jonquils are in full bloom, narcissus are pushing forth, and here and there tree limbs bulge with the tender greenery that promises spring.  

So don't despair - SPRINGTIME is on its way.  And, in the meantime, I continue constructing This, Too, Shall Pass.  The first of three sections is complete, so I'm on schedule to have this book available for Mountain Spirits Festival in October in Rocky Mount, Virginia. 

I want to share this excerpt with you from Section 1.  It was birthed in a park I found in Charlotte where I often took my little ones to play and later on sat through many Little League baseball games.   It was also a spot I sought out often when life grew too difficult.

"...As I sit upon a knotty root, how grateful I am for the comfort and tender quietness I find here.  Far of in the distance, I hear the faint hum of traffic and the laughing chatter of children, happily at play.  About me in the forest, I hear the rustling sounds of tiny creatures as they scamper from hiding place to yet another hiding place.  Somewhere, a pine cone slips from the evergreen’s grasp to find a final resting place upon the forest’s cluttered floor.  Sunlight flickers through the leaves and spreads in ever-changing patterns, moving lazily about, as a gentle breeze ripples through the trees.  Now, all the world seems far removed, and I am at peace with the child of God that I am.  Tension slips slowly away; mind and soul are lovingly caressed, held spellbound in this moment of surrender.

A stranger wanders past; we share a greeting smile, and the spell is broken.  Time has come to venture back into the mainstream, face to face with reality and the inescapable cares of the world around me.  With a silent prayer of gratitude, now I can return with a strengthened belief that I, too, as the Mighty Oak, can survive for yet a while."

And on a lighter note, here's a gift from me to you.  Springtime in 3 Minutes!  Enjoy!!!

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=springtime+music&qpvt=springtime+music&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=7F614CA231C7FC20B8BA7F614CA231C7FC20B8BA 

Meet me again?  I'll be looking for you..................