It’s like waking up from a long sleep. Humans don’t hibernate but as my body soaks in the first warm rays of spring sunlight it feels as if I’ve been asleep this whole time. Loins stir, wombs ache and I’m reminded I need new sunglasses.

It’s spring.

I react exactly how I imagine the wino on my street also reacted to spring’s opening salvo; “I survived winter. Time to get drunk.”

Optimism I haven’t felt since October returns to my brain and endorphins flood my neural passages (is that how it works?). Yay! Happy! Happy! Hap-py.

The unrelenting brightness inside my mind subsides. I was a happy child and I yearn to regain the ease at which I was able to channel joy and contentment during my youth. But the realities of the world creep into my mind as finances and career and insecurities and ever-looming death begin to grip me tighter and tighter.

I will fight it. I will ignore the internet (you know, after I post this). I will live in the moment. I will confront my problems head on. I will work hard and enjoy this life and be thankful for all I’ve been granted. I will hope. It’s spring.