Spring Fling

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This winter was soooo very long, or at least seemed that way to me. Maybe it seemed long because I had Oren (or Baby Orange, as we like to call him) back in December, and have pretty much been a total recluse for the past four months. I’m not big on driving a tiny little infant around on icy roads, for obvious reasons. And the media made it seem like this winter’s flu season was the worst flu season EVER, and that if you went to the grocery store you were definitely going to get the flu and die from it, so that kind of killed my enthusiasm for socializing.

Or maybe the winter seemed long because I was anxiously awaiting Season 3 of Game of Thrones, which only began this past week.

Regardless, there were many mornings in March where I woke up thinking spring was just around the corner – the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the grass seemed to be yawning and stretching, waking up from a long sleep (the grass on everybody else’s yard, that is. The grass on our lawn still looked like it was deeply depressed. Our grass is the Eeyore of all the neighborhood grasses).

But just as I would get my hopes up, and start thinking about maybe storing my bulky sweaters and puffy winter jackets, the local weatherman would put the kibosh on my dreams, telling me that I needed to prepare for the arrival of yet another 6 inches of snow the very next day. And then the snow would come, and Albany looked like yet another winter wonderland (the snowglobe look is so romantic and beautiful in DECEMBER, but I tell you, it wears thin after five months), and I would cry silently into my mismatched scarf and mittens.

But now, with the ten day forecast showing no signs of surprise storms, I think it might finally be safe to start thinking “spring”.

Yesterday, I took Em and O to the playground after picking Emmy up from daycare. Despite the fact that the playground was PACKED with people, and despite the fact that their WAS a strong wind that made me sort of worry about the kids being too lightly dressed, we had lots of fun. Em was all sunshine and happiness on the swing, watching out for planes flying overhead, and throwing her head back in laughter as I tried snatching her shoes off her feet each time she swung forward. We also kicked and threw Em’s bouncy ball around the field for quite a bit of time, visited with the ducks and fishies, and played in the sandbox (I know, I know. The sandbox has cat and skunk pee in it, and is just a total germy nightmare. But I DO wash Em’s hands off after she plays in it, and I try to encourage her not to EAT the sand).

It was wonderful, getting to breathe in lots of fresh air, feeling the sunshine on our faces, seeing all the other folks out walking their dogs and biking and chasing other kiddos around. I felt like a whole new person, saw my daughter totally ecstatic and “in her element,” and gave my son his first real dose of life outside our house. I vowed to myself that I would do my best to take the kids to a playground or engage in another outdoor activity on all the future good-weather days. Because , after all, we DO live in Upstate New York, which means next year’s winter is only about 3 months away.