As We All Hang on to Hope/Along the Road to Home

The birds were singing in our neighborhood this early February morning.  The resident Northern Cardinal called out from the tops of the trees in our side yard to any and all who would hear it.  The Cedar Waxwing, House Finch, and European Starling joined in the chorus as well.  It was so nice to hear their voices as I stood on the front porch breathing in the fresh air.  It gave me hope that someday soon all the many birds will return as the weather and the calendar move closer to spring.

We hang on to that hope.

For the past month, during these horribly cold days of January and winter, I have been trying to get some spider plants to start in the south kitchen window.  Slowly I watched their roots develop, getting bigger and stronger every morning.  I knew it would be time to soon take them from the water and transplant the tender young plants into soil.  I wasn't really expecting to do it this morning, but the weather brought us more tolerable temperatures for the day.  So out to the porch I went as the thermometer registered 49 degrees to tuck those little plants into a new pot filled with soil.  Fingers crossed, they will grow and mature into nice size plants that will be just perfect to hang up in the backyard pergola.


The times are pretty unsettling right now and sometimes things in life seem pretty hopeless.  Sickness and disease wreak havoc on our bodies.  We lose our family members and friends to death and are left alone to figure out what to do with what remains of our own lives. Our jobs are lost and given to another person instead.  The news on TV is about as dismal as one can imagine, yet gloomy as the times might seem we all just keep moving on.  It's enough to bring you down if you let it.

I find myself looking for signs of hope and optimism wherever I can these days.  As the calendar moved through the 73 days of January at a snail's pace, I knew that the glorious month of March and the first day of spring are not that far away after all.  Daylight Saving's Time, of which I am a fan, will return to us in early March.  The daylight hours will linger longer each day and that's about as refreshing of a thought as you can imagine.  

We just need to hang on a little longer to make it, and you know what?

I'll bet we do.




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