Top 10 Things I Love About Spring

Southland in the Springtime- that's a song by the Indigo Girls
in case you didn't know- check it out 🎶
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1. Honeysuckle- the simple pleasure of pulling it through your fingers and tasting its sweet nectar - and the smell, oh the smell.
2. Lawnmowers-  the smell of grass and gasoline.  I've always loved working in my yard.  Cutting grass paid our bills for years.  I close my eyes and see my 2 and 4 year old sitting on my husband's lap riding the zero turn down the hill in our yard.  🥲. Time slow down.
3. Baseball-  if you didn't already know I was a crazy baseball mom, well now you do.  I love the night lights with the light jacket.  I love the peanuts, the Big League Chew, the sunflower seeds, the muddy cleats, the whack of the bat hitting the ball, and the FAMILY that I have grown over these last 5 years of baseball in my little town.  I love watching the boys soar and picking them up when they fall.  I love watching grown men get so excited over 5 innings when life can be so very serious and frankly, sad.  There's not much that a grand slam or a mean fast ball can't cure.
4. Live music- with warmer weather comes a little acoustic set at your favorite spot.  You might pass by a lone sax player on a downtown street.  Band and choir concerts await and the backyard barbecues have those bluetooth speakers booming.  Enjoy ya'll.  Life is short.  I hope my last day is full of music (probably my first love).
5. Cleaning & purging- I know, I know.  This is supposed to be a fun post.  But I don't care who your mama is, nothing feels better than a cleaned out closet with some PineSol kicking and some Comet scrubbing that nasty bathtub.  Call me 1976, but all these organic cleaners are wonderful and all, but.... ya'll... can't nothing beat Comet in your bathtub.  Period.  End of story.  
6. Prom, graduation, weddings- If you're not going to any of those, it can be a bummer.  But if you are!!!!!  I don't know many boys or girls who don't like being pampered and treated to a day of beauty and spotlight like these occasions provide.  You can be as cynical as you want, but smelling and looking good with people you trust and love is COOL and FUN and NOSTALGIC.  Drag out those old pictures.  Remember what that felt like.  And give that to your children and grandchildren.  There's so much social media and not as much in-your-face, real-time, real-life affection.  Show them the love.  Talk to them with your mouth forming words instead of a like or comment.  We need to bring communication back.
7. Longer days- ahhhhh, Daylight Savings Time.  When it doesn't get dark until 9 pm.  That longer day makes anything feel possible.  Evening walks.  Driveway hoops.  Backyard games.  Front porch chats.  Neighborhood wiffle ball games.  That sweet sun doesn't want to leave us.  And we don't want her to leave.
8. Spring Break- there are so many things I could type right here.  From flying with my friend Angie Chase to see my Mammaw (without parents!!!) to possibly catching a pot on fire in PCB trying to fry french fries on a stovetop... but I think I will stop there.  Spring Break is like a yearly hall pass.  Enjoy it, friends.  It's amazing.
9. Spring clothes- tank tops, sandals, SHORTS, sunroof down, music blaring, Coppertone kicking, and birds chirping.  Maxi dress, YES.  Cute capris- PLEASE.  Shed the sleeves and pants and get outside my friends!!!
10. Farmers markets- from flowers to okra, from strawberries to peanuts, from farm to table - that's what I love.  I've lived in AL, TN, KY, and GA in that order and I've never met a fresh fruit or veggie I didn't love.  Seeing fields of crops as a child in Kentucky with silos and combines and barns and tractors - Oh I wish my boys could see that life.  The hard work and end result is a visual (and physical) that I wish more of our children knew today.  There's no instant gratification in growing your own food.  But boy, does it taste good!!!

Now I challenge you.
Think of what you love about spring.
Sit outside.  
Write it down or note it in your head.
And give thanks.

On our first day and our last day, we are all the same.

Godspeed.

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