It is not often enough that we take full advantage of our senses. For
myself, it takes a warm, balmy morning like the one today to awaken in me
the full feeling of sensory perception. A walk becomes more than a walk on
mornings like these, true happiness takes the forms of gusty winds and the
chattering of leaves that persevered through winter high in the tree tops.
Colors seem more vibrant, from the oil-stained gray of the cracked pavement
to the salty clouds making their rounds through the early morning blue-black
sky. The air surges with an anticipatory charge, as if any moment something
big might happen. People seem cheerier, smiles come more easily, and steps
seem lighter on these types of mornings. The promise of spring time, however
far away, reawakens every one from their sleepy winter moods, like a light
being switched on, dimly at first, but then, ah! Warmth takes hold of the
day, birds chirp in the distance from trees and shrubs and telephone wires.
Squirrels and chipmunks begin their furtive movements on lawns and up
fences, ducks begin to gather by creeks and turtles begin perilous journeys
across paths well trod by the newly awakened population. It seems as if
listening closely, there is always laughter to be heard not too far off, and
streets become packed with cars, each their own destination. Life truly
begins again, with spring giving a sense of rebirth to everything it
touches.

I awake from my early-morning reverie to the dull fact that winter is upon
us still, and spring is a long way off in the distance. I decide to take
this morning as nature's way of patting me on the head, reminding me with a
soft laugh that nothing lasts forever, not even frigid winters like this
one. This morning is not a cruel joke, only a friendly reminder of what is
to come, lest we all despair and give in to winter's foul temperament.