Last Day of Winter

I had been thinking of all the little mishaps that had occurred on Tuesday when it dawned on me what the big and lovely thing was that was trying to be born:  Spring! 

Today is the last day of winter, and I awoke early with an unexpected feeling of energy.and purpose.  After exploring the settings menu on my DirecTV DVR, I realized that the number it had been calling, and failing to connect with, had apparently been inoperational for some time.  When I changed it to another number, it worked perfectly.  Thus it turns out it has been our DVR trying to call on our line, and not a problem with the FAX line at all.  I did my morning exercises, and everything just felt right - the complete opposite of yesterday.  So I decided this would be a good morning to run Bearpen.

Rain that was mere mist at our house started coming down harder on the way to Town - cold rain, in the 40s, perfectly suiting the last day of winter.  So I went to the post office and the hardware store (to replace the broken pull-chain receptacle in the closet), waiting a little for it to clear, and it tapered off just a bit, so I parked and began to run.  What a magical uphill journey!  The higher I ran, the more it began to clear, and my cold fingers began to warm up.  The summit was socked in with fog, but I could see the glimmer of light overhead - perhaps it was the beautiful first day of Spring tomorrow, waiting to be born, a big and lovely season of transition, growth, uplifting new beginnings.  I realized that whatever the mishaps that may occur, there is always an opportunity - especially significant in this lenten season - of repair, renewal, regeneration.  As I started back down the back side of the mountain, I realized that I had reached another kind of summit, and the rest of the day would be all downhill. 

So let's put winter behind us.  This quote from Socrates arrived in my inbox yesterday:

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."