flirting with spring

Chicago Spring is quite the coquette. I first caught a glance of her during a bike ride in January, when temperatures rose to 60 degrees for a few glorious hours and piqued my interested. For months, that brief beauty sneaked into my daydreams and my desire grew. When March came along Spring began to show herself every now and then. Her face shined through beautiful blue skies, but I stepped outside to find nothing but a cold shoulder. I searched for her almost daily, and found her lurking in the bushes and trees whose twiggy branches were changing colors and producing the beginning of buds.

I knew that others had already enjoyed her - my Dad sent me pictures from Houston. But that didn't matter to me. Her birdsong and sweet earthy smell, breaking through the frost, came to me each morning as I shivered out my back door. Signs of life began popping up everywhere, rabbits, robins, red tail hawks, and I knew it was just a matter of patience.

Finally she broke down, shedding April showers.

And now she is here and I can't get enough of her.