The Door to Springtime

It’s the first day of spring! How do I know this? Why, I saw it online of course. Then, I turned around and looked at the calendar on the wall behind my desk. Then I went outside and got some fresh air.

I am so happy to be in California! I like opening my front door to a covered porch, not the inside of an apartment building hallway. As a kid, I used to watch “The Odd Couple”—about two very different fellows who shared an apartment in New York City. In almost every episode, Oscar or Felix unlocked the front door of their apartment. But the front door was in a hallway! I remember wondering what it would be like to live in a place where my front door did NOT lead outside. I thought it would be sad and lonely. As it turned out it simply felt like a long, steep entryway. Still, during all those years on the East Coast, I couldn’t wait to get back to a real front door.

Now my door leads to the outside world. I’ve got a garden that’s bigger than most of the apartments I’ve rented in Harvard Square. Every morning I bring a cup of coffee outside and just take in the day. I don’t bring my cell phone or my MacBook or any other connecting device; I remain disconnected from the world long enough to be in it.  

Lately, I’ve had a lot of hummingbirds visit. I set up a little feeder and these birds love it. There is something amazing about hummingbirds: they move in what appears to be an effortless manner, almost as if they are floating. I remembered, over coffee one morning, learning in school about hummingbirds. But all I could remember with certainty was that I’d learned something amazing; I couldn’t actually recall what it was I had learned.

Here is where my time at the computer and my love for the garden can merge. I looked up hummingbirds online and found, among other details, that a hummingbird’s heart rate can reach over 1,000 beats per minute. That is what I learned in school… it was all coming back to me.  

My time online and my time outdoors, along with the distant memories of the wonder every child feels about nature, blended together today. That’s a nice way to begin a new season.