you can never hold back spring

It's been pretty here lately. Spring is a shaky proposition, even in the south, so it's important to enjoy each day, as a cold snap can easily return at any time. Two weekends ago, it was cold and raining. Last weekend, I got a sunburn from working in the yard. But I was able to visit the Cobb County Vegetative Waste Center. Talk about one-stop shopping: you can drop off branches and yard waste so it doesn't take up space in the landfill, then you can load up your car with compost for free. I don't have a way to tote my branches over there -- I have until May 1 to burn my branches -- but I did get a large supply of mulch. My next stop was Mama Rose's house.
Mama Rose has a raised bed we affectionately call The Coffin, because we painted it with deck sealant when it was first built to protect it from the weather. It looks just like a coffin for an exceptionally tall person. And Saturday I arrived at her door and together we turned the soil and loaded the box with mulch. But that was just the beginning. Next, we cleaned out an old flowerbed and planted pansies, geraniums and sunflower seeds. As we did this, Mama told me all about how her neighbor loaning her a shovel that just worthless. Laura, it was so dull, I did a better job with my hands and fingernails.
I listened politely, and continued to plant. What I didn't realize was that she told me that story because what she wanted more than anything was to use the shovel I had brought with me to put the compost in the coffin. While my back was turned, she went to the back of my car, grabbed that shovel, and when I turned around, she had already broken ground on her NEW flowerbed. Before I left, we had it planted with more pansies and stargazer lilies.
It's wonderful, she said when we had finished. It looks like it's been there for years.
The next day, she was at my house.
You can't hold back spring. This year, that's also proving to be the case elsewhere. This morning, I had a meeting with the account manager. Last week I sent him an email about my future role with the account, and returning to a role I had served in before and wanted to do again. I won't go into detail, but at the end, he called my proposal a Win-Win. I know from experience that salesmen LOVE Win-Wins. I'm enthusiastic about making this happen. It's going to serve the account, it's going to improve my work environment dramatically in the short term, and it's going to open doors for me in the long term. I won't go into THOSE details now, but I hope to be able to communicate good news about those open doors eventually.
Spring: quickly becoming my favorite season.

-Laura