Seasons are peculiar things. Each passing season – winter, spring, summer, and fall – elicits different emotions and also provides opportunities unique to each particular period.
Let’s start with winter. Undoubtedly my least favorite season of the year, winter is often cold, harsh, and unrelenting. In its greatest depths, winter brings about a bitter cold that bites your innermost being and threatens your comfort with snapping winds. Frozen to the point of motionlessness, the trees appear to have lost all life as the ground beneath them is covered with a white blanket of snow. Some animals submit to a season a slumber, while others retreat to more favorable destinations. And just when you think winter is retreating, it often comes back more ruthless than before, reminding you not to get your hopes up that spring may soon come around.
But even winter’s hostility contains beauty. Have you ever witnessed your glittering surroundings after an ice storm? The way the sunlight hits the branches above can only be described as magical. An open field of uninterrupted snow stretching great lengths holds frozen tundra that can only be appreciated during the year’s coldest season. Falling snow, though oftentimes intrusive, can also eliminate daily grievances and fill us with childlike enchantment and wonder. Beauty originates from perspective.
Perhaps my favorite time of the year directly follows my least favorable. The emergence of spring after a long, dark winter is like waking up from a restful sleep. The world seems new and promising. The air is comfortable and easy to breath, and even its smell reveals an element of purity. The thawing ground beneath becomes soft, acting as a springboard with each and every step. The rainstorm showers the world completely and washes away any last hold winter clinches onto. Of course, the most beautiful aspect of spring is the promise of new life. As the trees blossom their cherry dyed buds, flowers emerge from nourishing soil and nature appears to be invigorated.
With its new life, spring also brings about simplicity. No need for thick warm jackets. Instead, we return to the basics. No longer is it necessary to avoid the cold outdoors. Rather, we take long bicycle rides and enjoy lengthy walks that allow us to bask in the perfection of this season. Spring is exciting, refreshing, inviting, and, most importantly, promising.
But as the mercury climbs and spring slowly transitions into summer, we must accept and welcome the change that is beyond our control. The days beginning to grow longer, while the nights shorter. We continue shedding layers to accommodate the rising heat while finding new adventures to satisfy our thirst for adventure. Life is suddenly viewed through a carefree scope as we enjoy company by the water’s edge. Sand below and clear blue skies above, the sun permeates every rolling hill as it hangs high in the sky. As we lay in the sunlight, we are covered by a blanket of warmth slightly resembling that blanket of snow provided by opposing winter, but differing in the heat it brings.
We are rewarded each summer night with a noble sunset congratulating us on the accomplishments of our extended daytimes. Unless, that is, the sun is blocked by an oncoming storm. But even that is a thing of admiration. With each flash of a lightening filled sky, we are provided a spectacle often imitated but never duplicated. The full-grown leaves wrestle against the wind, holding tightly to their life source. Subtly, they remind us that each of lives storms eventually passes and, once trapped in the past, we are left with the realization that we are capable of withstanding their strength.
Summer’s oasis cannot last forever, though. As the year reaches its climactic peak, it begins to dwindle and retire back to its hibernating state. As the hours of sunlight significantly decrease, the temperature is commanded to do the same. The leaves loose their green exteriors and are instead replaced with handsome shades of yellow, red, orange, purple, and gold. The world becomes lives canvass, filled with magnificent masterpieces that artists have long dreamed to achieve. Nature speaks through the whispers of crisp leaves covering the ground. We are humbled and reminded to prepare for the cold months ahead.
Right before the start of a new winter nature takes one last deep breathe, shedding the remaining foliage and cooling the atmosphere before shocking us with another frigid winter.
Seasons are not new concepts. I have experience twenty rotations of the seasons, and the only difference in these seasons has been me. How I have grown to view the world and how I have adapted to the changing seasons of my own life. Even when February has me frozen beyond any recognizable comfort, I continue to seek warmth until spring emerges once more.
