Journal: Sunday, April 23, 2006

This was a week when spring displayed her finest softness. To start with, the air has been uniformly mild throughout the week. Whenever I’ve been outside – in the morning walking across the parking lot at school, during the day as I moved between the buildings, or in the park in the evening – the air has had the aroma and feel of gentleness. If a person were tense this week, just tuning in to the easygoing feel of the air might have lowered the anxiety level considerably. The softness of the season was also seen in the abundance of blossoms on the trees. Seemingly every tree was loaded down with the softest-looking blooms, almost as if colorful clouds had descended upon them. The streets appeared to be thick with the richness of spring’s new growth. And finally, this weekend we are experiencing one of the season’s most classic features, a light and delicate rain. For the most part, the rain has not been heavy enough to sway a branch or even tap on a windowpane – just a soft swishing of lines of rain through the air. It seems fitting, somehow, at the end of this week of bursting, peaceful blossoming, that a gentle rain surrounds us.