Spring Awakening

So this is what they call Spring Awakening.  Now I finally know what it means.

Having grown up in the sweltering heat of Manila, Philippines in the middle of humid Southeast Asia, the notion of frost and winter slowly yielding to a green spring were rather alien to me.  These are things I only encountered in movies.

Sure, I'd experienced my first winter the year before this one.

And yes, I'd travelled to the Southwestern states of the USA during April or May, so I've felt what spring feels like.

But for Little Miss Tropical Me, already considering myself rather "frozen" in the 26 degree Celsius waters off Boracay Island in January, this first quarter of 2011 was a new experience. 

Having arrived in the late winter this year, I was impatient for the day winter would finally end and I could shed off my thick winter coat.  Every other week seemed like an empty promise from the skies.

And today, on the first of April (and no, this is not an April Fool's joke), I decided to go for a jog around our neighborhood, and trot around the sprawling park and open space right across from where my in-laws live.

Now I really know what they mean when they say "spring awakening." The daisies are coming out, little buds are sprouting out of the grass, the sun is shining, and grandmas and young mothers with their babies are out in the park. Nothing beats this.

I saw a handsome chocolate Labrador rubbing himself on the grass, young mothers with their baby strollers in tow, walking around leisurely, retired folk sitting quietly on benches, the occasional couple snuggling up close to one another. 

I saw the daisies, and the birds coming out, and I felt connection.  It was like an epiphany, nothing I'd ever felt like.

Then I realized why God gave me winter, each gray day impatiently waiting for the stubborn winter to finally turn into spring.

Today was golden, it was green. Skies were blue.

I was in love.

This is my first spring.

And it is magical.