Ordinary laura

This morning I put two pieces of mail in the mailbox which is always such a magical feeling in a day and age when paper mail is exclusively for advertisements, coupons, and bills and the occasional birthday card coming from an out-of-state relative who is over the age of 60. As I made the long walk through out soggy yard and a few blocks of melty snow I smelled “the smell.” That smell would be the smell of spring. I think it has something to do with the fact that the ground is not frozen, and it’s in the 40’s, the sun is out and it’s wet. I can smell the dirt and the air and it all smells like the season that says winter is coming to a close. But I, a michigander, know that March, which is only days away, is a wild card at best, and a late winter at the worst. I know that no matter how many random sunny and not freezing days we have this does not mean that “spring is here!” I can’t claim that reality in my heart yet. I cannot hold onto a true hope that this winter is coming to a close, I know better, I tell myself…I try to hold out as long as I can emotionally from hoping for warmer days and more sun, and the green that comes with new life. However let me say…this late February has been warmer than any I can remember and I can’t help myself, I’m teetering on a deep longing for Spring. I am walking the diving board and am very close to the end of it…flirting with water below, close to letting myself jump off into the water that in this case is symbolic of full on eagerness, looking for, hoping after Spring, and summer…but that would truly be getting ahead of myself. Let me not mention summer again until May.