The exhilaration of the promise of Spring

A tale of irony.

Friday evening, I left the office to a very pleasant surprise: Mid-40-degree temperatures.  Now, I'm far from being a Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferer, but Spring is my favorite season solely due to the elation of seeing warmer weather arrive after a long, dismal Winter.  And that is what I experienced walking out of the office on Friday evening.

No.  No... I experienced so much more.

It's a huge understatement to say that this excitement -- this exhilaration -- is sheerly because of warmer temperatures.  There was so much Spring to experience on Friday:

• A cool (not cold!), fresh breeze that carried a delightful hint-of-rain smell
• Actually reveling in the breeze instead of pulling my coat hood down lower and bracing myself against the wind
• Soft, relaxing rain pinging on the windows
• Sun! Even if it was only occasionally peeking from behind the rain clouds

I wanted to somehow capture everything that all of my senses were experiencing during that short walk through the parking lot.  Take a picture and an audio recording and some futuristic media that can capture smells, and keep it forever, for those moments when I need that renewal.

But I couldn't, so I just walked slowly, soaking in every second of it and knowing more days like this are to come, because this was a promise of Spring.

The funny thing is, I started drafting this post on Friday night, but got tired and waited to finish it today.  Let me just say that it's a good thing March gives us these little nuggets occasionally, because this has been the, umm, "experience" all afternoon:

I'm grateful I had the memory of yesterday as I shouldered my way through the freezing cold today.