These are some photos I took walking around uptown when it was not yet spring but just about getting there. And today, April 1, it finally got there. I love those first inklings of spring that catch me by surprise. All of a sudden, the energy begins to shift in little hints here and there. I hardly even notice the shift when things start to turn over because it is so gradual, until it hits me at one big moment and I finally realize how different the environment feels on my skin. And everything seems to click as I get on a new sort of clock. I finally realize how much clearer my head feels. How lighter my steps are. How much more effortless my breathing feels. How more common it is to exchange smiles with strangers on the street. I start to realize myself becoming more comfortable in my body as I walk down the street. More limber. More expressive. More ready to move.

Its funny though, because to be honest, spring has never been my favorite season.

I’ve always been enamored with fall for it’s warm colors and crispness in the air that is always just right. Fall gives me that nostalgic back-to-school feel that I looked forward to as a child, and the feeling has always stayed with me. I love winter for the holiday energy that leaves me tired but that is balanced out with the need for downtime and more focus on home space and creative indoor activities. The holiday hectic ness in all direction is a love hate-relationship but mostly love. Summer is always welcomed good fun as getting up early becomes routine because the sun shines in my face. Spring was always at the end of the list, maybe because this period of what spring is in New York City feels so quick, so fleeting, here and then gone almost at the exact same time that I forget it even happened as soon as it has passed. It’s a strange feeling. Beautiful though also.

These photos I took were two weeks ago, before any blooms grace the trees of the city. But today, as we had temperatures nearing 70 degrees, I felt like I finally had a true motivation to get outside and just look around and enjoy the feeling of a new season for the most simple aspects of what it entails. All of a sudden, the trees are covered in about to bloom flowers. All of a sudden, the skies have less crowds. All of a sudden, I feel like having a picnic in the park. All of a sudden, my bones start to warm and I have an itch to start adventuring in my urban backyard once again, but to do the most simplest of things like watch dogs, to stand in a spot of sunshine on a street corner and just soak in that feeling and let that be enough for the day. All of a sudden. All of a sudden. I’m always caught off guard with spring and as soon as I get used to it, it’s halfway throughs summer.

Because spring has always been the season that I felt has fled me the quickest, I’ve always let it slip past me much more easily than any other season. This time around, I feel a change in this approach. No more slipping by of seasons. It sounds so corny, but there really is so much possibility in this time of the year when you leave it up to yourself to create that possibility. I like to imagine my personal ice cubes melting and a new layer of myself exposed, free to express itself in this world the way that feels natural to me. I like to think of this layer shedding as a sort of challenge to take on, with no one but myself to take me on. Even then, it’s never easy. Spring is always marketed as the most subtle of seasons, but really it’s quite the opposite as I’m never quite ready to shift into spring. It always catches me off guard. Ready for what? That I don’t know. But what I do know is that I want to say yes to more things that maybe I would normally say no to. That I can try to be ready for more often.

I’m open to a spring that I won’t allow to slip through my fingers any more. I’m excited to see what is in store this time around.