Ten Heavenly Reasons To Daydream About Spring

I love George Harrison's spring-themed Beatles tune "Here Comes The Sun," in which he sings, "...it's been a long, cold, lonely winter." Anyone who has spent a dark, damp, chilly winter in England could tell you why such a line resonates with everyone there. Though I lived in England for some time, at present I'm back in my native land--the Twin Cities, Minnesota, U.S.A. Minnesota winters are far colder and far snowier, but also far sunnier and (thankfully) far less damp, than English winters. Hence, I found that in moving to England I simply exchanged one "not-to-be-sniffed-at" set of winter circumstances for another, and I've found in recently moving back to Minnesota that I have simply closed the winter loop; I'm right back where I started.

While the song is obviously set in England ("...it seems like years since it's been clear..."), anyone who has spent a winter in Minnesota might be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Harrison also had our neck of the proverbial woods in mind ("...I feel that ice is slowly melting..."). As I spent my university years in Nebraska, which features a winter that is milder than in Minnesota but still often quite vicious, it's the case that Mr. Harrison's song is ubiquitous when measured against the winter experiences of folks in the three places I've lived for years at a time.

There is a lovely line in the song that cannot help but bring about in the listener the same change that the people in the song are undergoing as winter morphs into spring, as Mr. Harrison observes, "...the smiles [are] returning to the faces." I say this because even Minnesota has occasional winter thaws (though for some odd reason folks here insist on referring to the word "thaw" as "un-thaw," which when you think about it would seem to mean, uh, "freeze"). In the midst of a cold, classic winter, this coming weekend is predicted to feature a few days of above-freezing temperatures and thawing snow banks. It will also certainly bring smiles to the faces of my fellow Twin Citians, and it will most likely send our thoughts in the direction of spring, which is still many weeks away but for a few days might seem deceptively near.

So, what follows are ten heavenly reasons for me to daydream about the coming springtime, which, to borrow Mr. Harrison's words, "...seems like years since it's been here." These reasons are listed in no particular order. Here they are:

1.) I'm a runner. I run outdoors year-round (even in Minnesota's "freeze-your-rear-end-off" winter). Running in the springtime leaves me with a sense of vitality and renewal unmatched by even my favorite season, which is autumn.

2.) Listening to Major League Baseball on the radio is one of my favorite past-times, and something I missed terribly while away from the United States.

3.) I miss riding my bicycle during cool springtime mornings and/or evenings, meandering through the local neighborhoods with no real destination in mind.

4.) Here's a yearly Hasslington ritual: reading Jim Bouton's book "Ball Four" prior to Major League Baseball's opening day. I defy today's athletes to try to write as effectively as did Mr. Bouton, a former major league pitcher.

5.) Just thinking of sitting outside on the patios at the local pubs makes me hope that the winter blows itself out early this year, though I'm sure there's not much of a chance of that happening.

6.) "How will the Minnesota Twins do this year? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Let's speculate...."

7.) The prospect of the forthcoming summer vacation is always an appealing thought to teachers. Lucky for me, that's what I do for a living.

8.) "Shall we go inside and buy something or just stay out here? I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is that we suddenly don't feel compelled to automatically go inside, so I vote for staying out here."

9.) A lot of local cats will be released from their necessary all-indoor winter living arrangements. As I love watching cats trot around town, this is an appealing thought.

10.) "It's spring. I guess we should plan our forthcoming trip back to England, and our forthcoming road trip to somewhere here in the U.S.A...."