It doesn’t take much sometimes, does it? A friend reminded me recently that there were but three weeks left until Spring, and that was a couple of days until the kids’ annual school Spring Break, and that same friend was looking forward to the moment when the season would be springing down upon us with all the rain and warmth – and hopefully, a little bit of sunshine – that time of year usually promises.
The kind of Spring we can skip, far as I’m concerned, would be the type we had last year, where some temperatures in March dropped below -20C at times. If I remember correctly, we spent a week in March in Quebec City, where the -25C temperatures were mitigated only by some of the largest snowbanks I had ever seen. They were so high that I couldn’t even see the top of them. They looked like the Swiss Alps to me. So far, this gradual, sunny Montreal Spring is suiting me just fine.
Today, the first sign of Spring hit. The surefire, one-of-a-kind sign of Spring that only suburban folks can truly appreciate: that moment when I hit the back deck upon our return from a brief, incredible, memorable, magic family trip to New York City and staying in the beating heart of Manhattan: two blocks south of Times Square —and began chipping away at the ice that has coated the deck thanks to the wet, icy weather of the past few weeks.
Every little piece of frozen water that comes up thanks to my trusty steel-edged snow shovel is just one more layer of frozen awfulness coming off the landscvape. Between my constant weightlifting, my frustration at icy surfaces when walking my dogs, and my sheer determination at forcing the issue, and the sweet, sweet steel-edged shovel, it was not long before the pieces coming up and with them the metaphorical vestiges of winter started to come off of my soul, piece by piece. It was delightful and incredibly cathartic, much like writing this blog is for me.
I’ll post a little bit about our trip to NYC this week; I’m looking forward to posting some great stuff for the coming future about a really cool youth football tournament in Toronto, about how I managed to keep my bodybuilding tunnel vision during a visit to the world’s most stimulating place (*or the most stimulating place I’ve ever slept), how I managed my training when the facilities in the hotel were , um, less than ideal, and how I managed to stay on my nutrition track, for the most part, even though I managed to find myself face to face with the largest chocolate bar in the world, and the most decadent dessert I had ever come across at different times.
Looking forward to a more optimistic time of year and a little more sun on my face, and in my life. Hope you all are as well.