Spring Fever

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

"Feeling Good," the Michael Bublé version

I'm feeling really happy today, and it feels good. Finally, there's the sun shining, birds chirping (and pooping merrily on my car, arg), tulips and daffodils finally blooming, and blossoms bursting onto the scene and raining down petals. Finally there is no snow ahead (fervently knocking on wood). Finally it's spring.

And other things. I got a new roommate, and it's been fun getting to know her. We might get another one this week and then, wow, the apartment will be at full capacity for the first time since December. There were a lot of new faces at church last week, students moving in, and something about the atmosphere of making new friends helps me to see even old friends differently. It's time for a new start, a fresh perspective; it's my chance to be better than I was before.

A week or so ago I was very unexcited about these kinds of changes. I hate to have good roommates move out, and maybe I'm just lazy or weird this way, but sometimes the prospect of reaching out and getting familiar with a whole new set of people is . . . exhausting. So much effort! Once I'm shoved into newness, however, I rediscover that the new has its own energy, and that change can be for the better.

I relearned these lessons last night, talking to new and old friends and laughing harder than I've laughed for a long time. Spring is here, and winter is finally shed from my shoulders.