Greening

My grandson noticed it first. “Look, Grandma! It’s turning green!” He was referring to the grassy path beneath our feet. Which didn’t look green to me at all. It looked brown. Like dead grass. But we stopped, and I looked more closely. And like so many times before I saw that young eyes are the first to see new things. Because indeed, just beneath and mixed in with the dun-colored dry grass, fresh green was just beginning to show itself.

And suddenly we were witness to a newborn Spring. The little stream that had been frozen, flowed freely, its song calling us to notice.

The birds, mostly silent through the months of winter, were singing!

These are early days. As the sun rises higher and higher so will Spring. Buds will break, leaves will sprout. Flowers will rise from the warming Earth. This is just the beginning, and the beginning of any new thing can be inconspicuous. And we can be slow to recognize gradual signs. But they are there, even in the wild swings of temperature that March brings. Like a slow recovery from a long illness, Spring doesn’t happen all at once. But if our senses are keen and our pace is slow, we will notice it creeping in.

Of course, it helps to have a child nearby.