When I was a kid, my mother used to recite a particular verse around this time of year:
Spring has sprung; the bird is on the wing!
That’s absurd; The wing is on the bird!
She used to lay her Brooklyn accent heavy on it, pronouncing “absurd” like “ab-soyd” and “bird” as “boyd.”
I guess it’s a New Yawk thing …
That aside, I am more than done with winter and ready to turn the calendar to warmer, sunnier weather. Of course, we’re not that quite there yet—the first official day of spring isn’t until Wednesday—but I am more than ready for it.
In fact, here are
The Top 10 Signs That Spring is Almost Here
1. I want to run outside, and *almost* don’t mind exercising, in general. (Gotta get my body back into bikini shape.)
2. I’m increasingly thinking about the upcoming NFL draft and 2013 season and have pretty much deleted from my mind everything about the 2012 season for the Jets. (Although there are certain moments that will be harder to forget.)
3. I’ve caught myself driving around more and more with the windows cracked open, and it has nothing to do with passing gas and the need for air baths.
4. My daffodils are ready to pop—and that’s not an euphemism.
5. Speaking of popping daffodils—my nose is beginning to run, which means whatever it is that causes my spring allergies is drifting into the air. I’m thinking I’m not alone on this …
6. I’m opening the blinds and curtain in our bedroom to let the sunshine in because there’s actual sunshine to let in, even after getting home from work.
7. Even though the New York Mets appear to be “rebuilding” for the sixth straight year, and are still showing no evidence that they’re anywhere near being a competitive baseball team, I actually have the periodic pang of curiosity that compels me to check Metsblog.com. For the record, almost every time afterward I’m immediately depressed and tell myself that I’m not going to waste my time on a team that has been run into the ground by incompetent ownership, you know, which is *obviously* the complete opposite of the Jets.
8. I don’t have to scrape my windshield every single morning, and it’s not because I’ve somehow managed to finagle the occasional turn parking in our one-car garage.
9. I’m no longer checking home heating oil prices on an hourly basis. Now that the ground is thawing, I am, however, checking the basement after every significant rain storm for flooding. So there’s that.
10. The new Pope saw his shadow after he ventured out of the conclave.