…more reasons than ever to run outside. Or the number of naps
Maynard will take in the sun as I attempt to reclaim my backyard from a
winter’s long neglect. Or the number of
times Belle will drop her ball in front of the lawnmower so I have to throw
it. And how many street festivals I will
attend in the next (60) days. The number
of excuses I will make to leave the office early to squeeze in the full (18)
holes before sundown. The number of times I will suffer through a
dipshit client’s disorganized meeting daydreaming of the weekend hike. Today is the first day of spring! And there
are at least 9,369 reasons I love Atlanta
this time of year. It is also the number
of pollen particles per cubic meter of air today – the highest pollen count in Atlanta’s recorded
history.
A thick dull fog has descended over the city nearly choking
out the sun. You can see it billowing
down the freeway, mindlessly dancing along the traffic wind…resting peacefully
on the back of every sleeping dog or anything else that sits still for a minute
or more…gleefully attacking the bronchial passages of the unfortunate. I will be happy to cough and sneeze and curse
it 9,369 more times until that first excellent rain rolls in and washes it all
away. It’s not really spring until that
glorious first cleansing, when the dusty haze is erased and the city explodes
once again into its perfect color. That’s when I know that the dark of winter
is done. You can almost literally see the
blood pumping back into the heart of this town. Spring is nature’s dawn, right? I will
spare you the 9,369 other tired “spring is a rebirth…” clichés but rest assured
they are all spinning wildly in my brain.
I can’t sit still. I can’t
concentrate. I’m effectively useless,
strangled by anticipation of the 9,369 outstanding memories I will soon make.
Or the 9,369 epic trips to Lowes to buy supplies for the
9,369 projects I will never finish.
The 9,369 ideas for new ink I will entertain but not get.
I designed (2) nearly complete building concepts in the span
of (30) minutes today, put them into production and will not be able to sleep
tonight for the 9,369 other ideas I have for 9,369 others.
Throughout the day, I weighed the pros and cons of no less
than 9,369 paintings I should do, or stories I should write, and plays I would
run if I were the coach, or lessons I would teach if I had kids and thoughts I
would think if I had 9,369 seconds in every minute of every hour of all 9,369 days
of every year if I were to live for 9,369 years after this. It seems like that long since I’ve felt this
creative.
There are 9,369 rituals attributed to the Vernal Equinox;
virgin and animal sacrifice, Bacchanalian orgies, beheadings and other benign
activity. I’m not much of a Pagan so I
celebrated the dying of the night by
watering the dogwood I planted a couple of years ago in the front yard. I sat there on the stoop and quietly enjoyed
the first of the 9,369 PBR’s I will have on the exterior this season and, in my mind at least, watched her grow. I thought about the shade this beauty will provide
9,369 days from today, how tall she will be and how long the shadow she will
cast. That little tree represents as
close to “roots” as I have ever managed to put down in my life. If I’m lucky enough to be here 9,369 days
from today I will tell you a little more about it - if I'm not, spread my ashes at her feet.
She’s a good tree…and there are 9,369 reasons why.
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