Spring Fever

I don't know how it looks in your neck of the woods, but today, this little guy's my only evidence that spring's around the corner. 

It seems winter and spring are arm wrestling. So far, winter's winning with its storms, but then there'll be a ridiculously warm day and my heart skips a beat because I think spring's finally got the upper hand. There's still plenty of snow on the ground and Friday's supposed to get close to seventy degrees, but Sunday's forecast is snow. We always take the nicest day of spring break to visit Omaha zoo, so Friday it will be, followed by some ice cream cones. Can. Not. Wait. 

It's a little up and down, this waiting for my very favorite season. It's HERE! No it's not. Spring's like a drug to me. When I feel those first warm breezes, it's like whiplash from cabin fever and I want to be out, all day every day. I want to eat out. I want to be at the playground. I want to picnic. I want to shop. I want to go and go. My enthusiasm spills into my outfits, where I try to wear all the colors of the rainbow simultaneously. It's nuts. I also get into project overdrive. My husband tries to talk sense into me, but I'm so excited that when he looks into my shining eyes, he decides against bursting my bubble. So we landscape and garage sale, all the time trying to squeeze in fun activities because it may not feel this good again until September. 

To give you some idea of the scope of my feelings, I've included this clip from Saturday Night Live, where Kristen Wiig's character gets excited about a surprise party. I couldn't find the original scene without the hunky guy's version, so you'll have to suffer through it. 

However, my madness is going to be more thought-through this year. While I've succeeded to some extent with minimalism in my stuff, I have work to do with my calendar. I know from my No Spend months and my experiment with treating soul-fever that slowing down helps me be present and enjoy my family, so I don't want spring overrun by my To Do list. It's great to have more energy and wise to tackle projects when you do, but planning or expecting yourself to do too much is a recipe for feeling like a failure. Which stinks for me, but I usually just get through it, telling myself, "If I didn't aim high, I would've never gotten this far." But that's only half the story.

"Consider that your busyness isn’t only overwhelming for you, but for everyone around you."     -Courtney Carver at Be More With Less

Oooh. Wow. I get in my tizzy and forget that asking this much of myself ripples out to people close to me. When I take on extra, Brian gives more too. When I focus on helping someone else, my kids give up some of my attention. This is the beauty of how family works, helping each other, but not if I take thoughtlessly. I've always said second semester is so hard, to Brian and others. "I don't know why it's so much harder than first semester...It just is." Hmm. Maybe it's the crazy person who comes out every spring and tries to do it all. Maybe this spring I can be happy with half of it and breathing. Letting my family breathe. It's worth a shot.