By: C. Michelle Bryant
Call mi crazy, but I LOVE spring! It excites mi to the point of sheer euphoria. Breathing the cool, crisp air, gazing at the clear, bright blue sky, watching the leaves as they begin to grow back then turn to blossoms in the trees as they gloriously fill with color and beauty – it truly leaves mi gasping at all the splendor that is nature. The sounds of birds chirping outside my window as the sun peeks through my curtains every morning and wakens my sleepy, groggy head start my day with my heart leaping and brings a smile to my face that seems to last all day. Spring truly brings delight to my soul, my days, my very existence.
I told my mother today, “Artists should not be allowed to be drivers. We should only be passengers and have chauffeurs to escort us in our daily doings.” For mi at least, to drive as the pear trees are blooming on every corner and the Japanese magnolias (oh, how I love those) are radiantly painting a pink palette to a still-brown grass background, to the squirrels doing calisthenics and chasing each other up and down the trees and to the birds as they converse on the telephone wires and dance in the yards, why, it simply IS too much distraction for one who is supposed to keep their eyes on the road and the vehicles around
them.
But every day, as I begin to enjoy our oncoming spring here in the South, I let my mind wander to the hope and potential that springs brings. What once was dry, withered, tired and perhaps not too attractive is now filled with life, beauty, color and promise. How glorious to come from the deep, cold, gray and rise with exuberance. It’s as if spring is proudly saying, “Ta-da! Here I am. I survived. Don’t I look beautiful?”
In our lives we have those days. Days that are dark, gloomy. I call those “I just want to stay in bed until it stops” days. But then we have those days that we break away from the cold, harsh humdrum and feel like we can conquer anything that comes our way. As I put together my seventh issue of this magazine I have experienced both of those days on numerous occasions, as well as defeat, discouragement and doubt. But like spring I refuse to stay in that which does not offer mi sunshine, laughter, happiness and promise.
The truth is, even on the yucky days we can radiate our beauty and share our shine. The choice is ours. But we must rise above whatever tries to stand in our way. Come rain or sleet or hail or snow we are more of nature’s splendor than we accredit ourselves. We are made perfectly and perfectly made, and as the flowers rise from the cold ground, so shall I rise from the naysayers and the obstacles I may face in this journey. I shall lift myself up and be excited each and every day and focus on the beauty, the promise and on what is truly fabulous.
stay, fabulous, stay you!
“mi”