Mosaic Monday: Spring Equinox

Early Spring
Harshness vanished. A sudden softness
has replaced the meadows' wintry grey.
Little rivulets of water changed
their singing accents. Tendernesses,
hesitantly, reach toward the earth
from space, and country lanes are showing
these unexpected subtle risings
that find expression in the empty trees.
                             -Rainer Maria Rilke

The theme for this week's Mosaic Monday was a no-brainer for me, which was a good thing because I have very little brainpower left after finishing another quarter of coursework. I have been at this (an MS in marriage/family counseling) for two and a half years now, and this would have been my last quarter of coursework before internships except that... I'm insane? No... well, that's debatable... Seriously, though, I also want to earn a specialty in addictions counseling because there is a huge need in my community (and everywhere, really), so I start two of the four required courses in April and finish the other two sometime after starting practicum and internships in (fingers crossed) July. In the meantime, I kicked off my 3-week break by taking the kids way up to Cloudcroft this past weekend to see their bestest friend, whose mom is one of my dearest friends, too. The weather up there at 9,000 feet can be dicey, but we had a perfectly sunny, calm weekend and enjoyed a lovely spring hike on Sunday through the tall pine woods into a meadow that already is greening up. We came home to daffodils and hyacinths in full bloom, and the perennials are reemerging from their winter beds of straw to reassure us that, yes, winter's harshness will soon vanish and be forgotten as the earth awakens, and us with it.