Small Ways | Just Like Spring
Spring’s eyelids are beginning to flutter in her sleep. Just over two weeks from now, the calendar says she’ll arrive, and only a few weeks after that, the landscape will begin to say so, too. There’s an infinite sweetness found in a new season, and spring is especially endowed with a sense of anticipation and hope.
As I sweep the latest layer of snow from the front porch steps, I remember that I want to make a jute netting for the pea plants to climb on in the garden this year, and I want to add cedar slats to the trellis to support the scrambling beans. I remember how the willow whips I bent into a low fence around the flowerbed a few years ago kept sprouting leaves and trying to grow, and how I know just where I want to “plant” more of them this year so they can do just that.
But right now? All of that is still under a soggy layer of snow, waiting. Waiting for winter to go ahead and give up (it takes him a while). Thank goodness spring can happen inside even before she happens outside. Here, there’s a spice cupboard all a jumble, dust bunnies under the beds, and a wall is begging for paint. All spring (cleaning) things, for sure. Make note, make a plan, make space for spring.
But first, how about flowers? Could there even be spring (cleaning) without them? Thankfully, there’s a vase full from my love last month, still bright and strong, in a massive bouquet on the dining table. I think I’ll spread some spring around. (Do you do this, too? Mass flowers all together for a few days, then take the bouquet apart and spread them around the house in smaller bundles?)
I’ll take a generous handful of the white ones, mound them in a small vase, and perch it on the bathroom shelf. Staggered stem lengths, a little loose, a little wild, but so pretty and fresh and smiling. That’s a good start. A happy, hopeful start. A tiny taste of what’s to come. It’s taking what you have, and changing it up until it all seems new. Just like spring.
Simple. Reachable. Doable. Small ways. They pack enough punch to change your world, or your day. Or maybe, simply and gloriously, they’ll change your moment. Small Ways is a series about small objects, small gestures, small touches. Small ways for living well.