Springtime...

Okay, so it's not quite here yet. But it's coming. It was in the mid-eighties today. It's a little early to smell the grass, and there aren't any wild flowers out yet. But the trees in the neighborhood have started coming back. Soon it will be time to start thinking about a garden and what I want to do with the flowerbeds. It's going to get cold again, in the next week or so they say. But Spring is close.

We are planning to clean this weekend. My wife is ready to clean out, and I'm kindof looking forward to it myself. We do this periodically throughout the year (major cleaning, I mean - we do normal cleaning fairly regularly). But we seem to be better at it in the Spring. Or maybe it's just not such a drag in the Spring. I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem to be so bad when the weather turns nicer.

Spring training is getting underway also. It won't be long before the kids start getting ready for little league baseball. I wonder if little league is like it was when I was a kid. I remember having tryouts. It wasn't actually a tryout. It was more an attempt at leveling the teams. Then practice would start. I hated practice. Lots of running. My five minutes' worth of batting practice. Then shagging fly balls in the outfield. But then came Opening Day, and it was all worth it. Clean uniforms, anticipation, and the pure promise of a new season. On opening day, the season was born - a rebirth that is like many things in Spring.

I can't wait for April showers. And I love the May Flowers that come with it. I love the smell of the grass and the beautiful 75 degree days. I'm ready to go for a walk by the lake with my wife.

Spring has always been my favorite time of year. I love the warmth of summer, and I can get into a good winter storm - once per year or so, thank you. Fall is a nice break from the hot summers (I like them, but they get old sometimes). But Spring is always full of promise. This year, just like every other, I'm ready to enjoy it...right after I finish cleaning.

For my darling wife...

It's not exactly the one you asked for, but it's a close as I could get.

Love you..

My Escape...

When I was young, I had a strategy for getting through hard times. I would plan my escape. This was back in something like 7th grade. I spent hours checking airfares to all the places I wouldn't mind escaping to. I'd find hotels that I thought maybe I'd stay at. And because I was somewhat realistic (can't you tell?), I also checked fares on Greyhound. I had something close to 80 bucks saved. I was ready - if Life pushed just a little too far, I was off.

That kind of thought gave me a lot of strength to get though difficult times. It's easier to endure something when you know there *is* an alternative, even if you know you’ll never take it.

People think this way all the time. If work gets too bad, they know they can find a new job. If life at home is rough, they can find a hobby to occupy them. If worse comes to worse, a pair of headphones and a loud iPod make a handy escape.

Sometimes, however, these don't go far enough. Sometimes a real escape is called for. Now, I don't mean to sound like life is closing in on me and that I have to find a way out of the one I have. It's not and I don't. But there are days...

Once in a while I find myself looking for a place to run. Not looking *to* run - just planning. Like back in seventh grade. The pressures are different today than they were back then. And in a lot of ways, they are easier to deal with – not everything feels like the end of the world the way it did back then. And knowing there are options still helps to take the edge off.

I’ve always been something of a daydreamer. I know there are people who "escape" to extremes. They escape into alcohol or drugs, or they run away to Tahiti (or used to anyway), or they just never grow up. I prefer my own version – to sit for a minute and think of the beach, and my wife and I splashing in the waves, or looking for shells. And I smile, and then I come back to the now, until the next trip..