Do Not Let a Moment Slip By Unnoticed

This year is the year I succeed at stretching time out for as long as possible

Wood anemones. Author’s photo.

Every year, when spring arrives, I tell myself the same thing: Do not let a moment slip by unnoticed.

I love spring. (I may have mentioned that once or twice before.)

I live for spring. And also for summer. But really, it’s the spring that lights the fire in me for the remainder of the year.

I love the slow unfolding of the earth’s potential, appearing in the form of one spring flower after another, one tree’s leaves after another, and the gradually accelerated growth of the grasses and groundcover. To me, everything about the way nature works is magic, and spring is when we see that magic manifest.

Each day brings something more. One day a bud, the next the tiniest hint of green leaf. From one day to the next we see blossom burst into being as if from nothing.

I love it. I really, really do.

And I. don’t. want. to. miss. a. moment.

And yet… each year, my resolve fails in one way or another. Life throws up complications, stresses, maybe twenty consecutive days of rain; I develop tunnel vision, get lost in my little world of doozery doing, or forget to look around me as I…