Only Spring Once

Spring, the Vernal Equinox, has finally arrived and I'm reminded of the adage "Stop and smell the roses". Old people have that baby loaded in their advice quiver and they dispense it like Pez. Sounded like inane Fortune Cookie fodder to me. Cryptic and maddeningly vague, leaving us to glean what these crafty bastards meant by it.

Another favorite of mine is "If I knew then what I know now". Very prescient stuff from the wily veteran class. Clearly they've learned something seminal shuffling their mortal coil down the road of life and if granted a celestial do-over...they'd do things differently. But what?! What is this acumen oh Confucius? Spell out this revelation gained through your travels so we won't have the same regrets!

Perhaps the answer is not so universal...

In the movie "City Slickers" the haggard old cowboy explained the meaning of life by simply holding high his finger and saying "This". Whatever this is to you, whatever your perception of this is...that is what "this" will be. Perception is reality and that reality is your life. However in this multitasking world seldom do we concentrate on that one thing, what it is we have...and the opportunity to appreciate it passes us by. Lost forever in the fog of indolent memory. For what we desire is more powerful then what we have.

As young people go we have very little in terms of material wealth therefore there is lots to be desirous for. We are lean, hungry and on a mission. Thing of it is...we have something amazing and it's slipping through out fingers like the grains of sand from the hour glass. Youth. Youth and all things that go with it. Things like virility, optimism, naivety, exuberance, innocence, wonderment, hope all wrapped up in this raw and vernal package.

Perhaps these things are wasted on youth. Some speak dismissively of such traits as they lack maturity, wisdom and length of bone, thereby marginalizing those qualities. However those are good things...nay great things. Perhaps...that is what our parents meant yet failed to articulate.

As they toiled and bought and persevered and fought and broke bread, building a life as the weight of the world slowly and surely twisted their gaits and as their time on this planet inexorably winds away...they realized they lost something most precious...and they barely noticed at the time. A wisdom that only comes with hindsight.

It is spring and spring marks the rebirth of all the things that lay dormant during the cold dark winter...even notions and perceptions. I should stop and appreciate that rose while my eyes still sparkle, my mind is still bright and my joints doth not protest too much.

I know now...I should.

Happy Spring everyone.

See ya next week top of the food chain!

-Life is complicated and far from perfect, but it's still great.