Today marks Day 9 of the Slice of Life challenge. Join me as I work to write every day in March – and beyond!
As we approach March 13, the last day we were with our students, the day we hurriedly sent them packing without any true sense of what we were shifting into or out of, I’m feeling…some kind of way. I know lots of us are. It hits me in different ways, or from different directions. This time, it hit me when I was out on a walk yesterday and I caught a spot of yellow peeking up from the earth.
I’m not sure
I remember
looking for
signs of spring
last year
not sure that
I took
my annual spin
around the block
which is sad
when you think about it
because watching for
the crocuses
the hyacinth
the snowdrop
means
you know what’s coming up
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
Same here! I cannot wait for Spring. And I love the pictures!
Thank you! Spring always brings with it such hope and joy. I’m thinking I may have missed that last year…
I think many of us are noticing things this year that maybe we did not pay close attention to last year. I saw my first robin of the year in our front yard this morning. Yes!
Ah, the first robin! I was in a barbershop quartet that sang “When the Red Red Robin (Goes Bob-bob-bobbing along).” Can’t see one of those buddies without humming a few bars.
So true. It is so important to notice things. Maybe this is an unexpected benefit of what we’ve been through this last year. March 13th was the same day our students were “sent packing” into the digital unknown. I am grateful I had a senior last year, and not this…
Absolutely. My son is a senior now, and there’s a great deal betwen last year and this year that he mourns the loss of.
I think we mourned more than our son did, but it was only for the last part of third term and fourth term. He did miss his senior year of track and he was not happy about that….but prom and some other senior festivities he could have cared less. The school tried their best to make up for it but the loss of a senior awards banquet and in person graduation was very hard on this mama! I hope some things are back in place by the end of the year for your son!
Again, parallel lives. For my son, it’s hockey. Last year, their season was cut short when they were one game away from the state championship. This year, they’ve tried to cobble together a season, but it’s been ROUGH. Prom and graduation…yes. Doesn’t matter to him. Still, you’re right. Stuff like this is always harder on us than it is on them. Guess it always is…
Luckily, in the fall of 2019 everything was okay and our son had his senior soccer season. His team had gone to state the year before and this last season was less than stellar. But, I do wish he had been able to have a track season…he went to state as a junior and place in the top ten in two events, making the 2nd place podium in the 200m dash. He was outrun by seniors in both races…We thought it would be his turn…but not to be! Strangely enough, he seemed okay with it! The seasons for many sports this year have been cobbled togethere here as well. And, yes, I think that it has been rougher in that regard on your son’s class – that and the distance learning platforms. A tough year, indeed!
That last line: “You know what’s coming up” lands just right. Captures the knowing/not knowing contrast, the promise of spring that we kinda missed last year, the reckoning that follows a year and more of uncertainty. Thank you for sharing your ruminations in poetry.
a-ha! I’m glad someone found that little nugget I left at the end of my poem. =))
I’ve been mulling a commemorative sort of post as the anniversary of COVID onslaught draws near … not sure about that yet but you capture so much of the experience here in your lines. The numbness, even now trying to recall the way the world shifted overnight. Nature carried on in her glory and we were trying to survive the moments. This year … this year, let us have a spring jubilee, beginning with those little buttercups, precious as gold.
Yes! time for me to weave a wreath, or make a chain of clover, to celebrate the wonder that is this re-awakening of the world.
I’m reveling in this spring! Thanks for sharing this, and I hope you enjoy the season.
Thanks! As for the spring season, that generally lasts in my area from about late may to mid june =))
Felt the line about not noticing spring last year. It’s almost as if it didn’t exist. Those beautiful flowers give me hope!
Yes, they give me hope as well! There’s a LOT about last year that I glossed through or was numb to…
Ah the signs of spring! I came home to find a crocus had popped open this afternoon. I may have done a little dance. Like you this upcoming Saturday has a mix of emotions for me. I found my Slice from that date. I ended it like this:
I’m almost afraid of why we will be paused again next year.
*sigh* Who would’ve believed we would still be paused (kind of) nearly a year later?
I know. I’m still shaking my head. But I sense a greater deal of hope and light than I have in a long while…
Nothing quite beats the signs of spring every time it comes around with all its promises. They sure look like buttercups, their yellow is just so vivid!
Yes! And this splash of color is so very welcome after a long and gray winter.
I love these lines: “I’m feeling…some kind of way. I know lots of us are. It hits me in different ways, or from different directions.” It’s so true. The hitting me from different directions is what knocks me the hardest.
YES. It’s a lot like grief, which strikes from around corners and from under furniture just when we least expect it…
Thank you for your post. I remembered all the plans for wrapping up our Shakespeare unit and then going with a poetry unit had to quickly scrapped for district virtual curriculum (ugh!). This year as we slowly return to the building I’m going to do my best to follow my heart and teach what I find meaningful and beautiful.
YES! I’m trying to get my colleagues to do the same. Follow the heart, teach from the heart… ❤