Signs of Spring!

Today I experienced my first signs of Spring. I have beautiful, little, green (yes, you read it...GREEN!!) shoots coming up in the flower beds out front that are eagerly waiting to grow into beautiful purple and white crocus and yellow daffodils. I absolutely LOVE spring flowers. Planting bulbs in the fall is such a leap of faith and I kind of forget about those little bulbs in the ground, taking in their oxygen and getting ready to do their thing all winter long. But every year they come up again in all their glory and I'm always a little surprised and very happy to see them! I get starved for color by this time of year and am even happy to see my patchy yellow-green grass that has reappeared since the glaciers in the front yard have receded.

My second sign of spring was hearing my "Amber bird" this morning during my run. Amber is a little girl who was a student at the preschool the first two years it was in business. Amber had a condition known as Carpenter's Syndrome, which among other things resulted in her being born with webbed feet and hands, and that's one of the minor aspects of this syndrome. She had undergone countless surgeries at her tender age and had the scars to prove it. One of the characteristics of this syndrome is a sing-song quality to the voice. Amber's voice was so sweet to listen to. She'd never call us "Miss Laura" or "Miss Jenny;" rather, she would say "Tea-cher" in this melodic, lilting voice. There is a bird I hear about this time every year that sounds exactly like Amber. I hear it in droves all spring and summer long during my morning runs and it brings me such joy. I have no idea what happened to Amber. Her family moved from the area after she graduated, but I'll always remember her because she taught me so much about courage, tenacity and compassion. I'm glad my Amber Bird is back.