Mother Nature & Me... we're like one

Yes, I know that the higher beings of calendar wisdom have already declared today to be the first day of spring, but I would have known, deep in my weather-telling bones, even had the calendar not told me so. Spring is here.

A few weeks ago the scent of lilacs in bloom overtook the air in LA's west side. As soon as I would drive over "the hill" on my way home from work each night, the vents of my car would blast into my face the pungent scent of flowers. Step outside of my sister's apartment: FLOWERS. Open the window anywhere in my own apartment...and BAM! FLOWERS! Not a wafting, but a smack you in the face while slapping you upside the head, lovely floral scent. Which, when I finally cleared the sleep from my eyes one morning while filling the coffee pot, I saw through the hazy window to be lilacs. It appears that the world's largest lilac tree/bush wraps around the corner of my apartment - half sweeping to the east side to smear its scent around my bedroom window, and half brushing up against the south side, allowing itself to be some kind kitchen light dappler in the morning hours. I swear to god, this heavenly, omnipresent scent alone is worth hanging around LA during the last few weeks of February.

Plus, the sun has done a shift. It's no longer the, "Oh look! The sun is shining... but wait, it's-barely-in-the-50's-we'll-freeze-if-we-try-to-eat-lunch-outside" kind of sun. It's the much more fantastic, "Holy shit. It is NICE outside. Where are we going after work that has both cocktails and a patio?" kind ...and I LOVE IT.

And while I was technically, physically, alone tonight, I came home from work in the waning daylight hours while talking to one of my favorite friends, Tuck, and with the phone pressed into my shoulder, I grabbed a glass of sauvignon blanc and headed for the balcony for an hour and a half of gabbing and laughing under a pink sky. Oh yes, it is spring.

But really, the clincher was just now. While folding laundry something shiny on the floor caught my eye. Without a second pause I was rolling it in between my fingers, at first guessing that it was an earring back...but it was squishy...wait, what is this thing? Closer inspection revealed that it was a bug...the kind with the silvery semi-transparent backs and about 36 little legs writhing around. First thought: "Ew. Smooshed bug...on fingers! Blagh. Stacy would soooo be freaking out right now if this were happening to her! I need a tissue..." But then it suddenly all came swirling into my little head at once: the scent of flowers, the warmers days, the daylight stretching into those fabulous post-work hours and now the bugs crawling around everywhere. The seasons have definitely changed. Hallelujah!

Get outside! All the cool kids are totally doing it.

Now someone just needs to tell Mother Nature to ease up on the rest of the country and let them have their fun, too. Minnesota remains buried under snow...or so I hear. Poor, poor them...What do you mean, "stop smirking?"

Have you hugged a tree today?

I don't know when exactly it happened, but somewhere along the line, I became what my father likes to call, "A Tree Hugger."

I'm that girl who scolds if you leave the water running while brushing your teeth, insists on recycling, reuses paper shreddings as package stuffing, buys organic everything whenever possible, dreams of a hybrid car, wants to know why her parents don't save water by putting a brick in the back of their old toilets and has books around the house advising which foods are most contaminated by chemicals and how best to avoid buying fish that are farm-raised and fed a diet of other fish bits (ew). And that's just a sampling of my "This World Is Going To Hell & By The Time I Have Children They'll Have To Deal With The Toxic Wasteland We Left Them" mentality that has been the voice of my conscience for years now.

In waves I start to read more and more about certain subjects, resulting in outrage that urges me to share factoids on whichever subject I've just become a self-appointed expert. Unfortunately for my immediate family members, I usually dump it all on them.

I am aware of how annoying friends or acquaintances are who constantly yap at you about their beliefs and/or opinions, while you really just wanted to go out for a beer or make a Target run. So I try to swallow my opinions in order to avoid being that person. For the most part. However, my family is required to love me no matter what, so they are often the sacrificial lamb to my rants of injustice, wrongdoing and rectifying solutions. Especially my parents, because as parents, they're obliged to at least pretend to be listening, whereas with sisters...well, they sometimes just let their eyes glaze over moments before turning around and walking away.

There are enough sites out there and stories on the news giving helpful tips on how to lighten the footprint you leave behind, so I won't do that here. At least, not today. I will say though, that if you want your dad to crack you up with comments like, "Oh look, Sara! A tree! Do you wanna go hug it?", or "Hey Tree Hugger, I had to dig the elm out of the front yard. Did you want me to bring you the stump so you can cuddle with it at night?" - well, then it's time to start demanding organic milk, low energy light bulbs, recycled paper towels and the reusing of Christmas wrapping paper.

And as an end note, yes, I sense the irony to be found in my sometimes-environmentalist ways converging with life in LA, a city infamously covered with a layer of smog resembling the color of fire-roasted marshmallows. Gah!

(Image sent by Dad & titled, "Where's Sara?")