Proof.

I've been waiting very patiently. 

For months I've been waiting for the snow to disappear and for the warm temperatures to arrive. The official first day of spring came and went, without much fanfare. Then more snow came. Then it melted. And then finally, finally!, this past Friday temperatures actually reached a number that I consider warm. 

It was the kind of day that just begged you to come outside and play. Find anything to do because even the most mundane task would be glorious solely because of the warm bath of sunshine.

I set out to refinish my coffee table. It's a contender for the world's ugliest coffee table award, so I figured we had no where to go but up. I dragged it to the backyard for a bit of sanding and then some painting.





The only problem was that my backyard is a graveyard of dead and gross leaves. This is what happens when you forget to rake in the fall...again. Then the first snow storm hits and you think that surely at least one of the blizzards will dump enough snow to make all those pesky leaves shrivel up and disappear for good. I know a little bit about basic science - decomposition should kick in any day, right? Or maybe if I pray hard enough the Earth will just open up and swallow all the leaves and I'll forget they were even there in the first place.

But none of that ever happens. Every year the ground thaws and we're left with a very thick, very wet layer of leaves instead of lush green grass.

While I noodled on how to handle the coffee table situation, I raked. And then I raked some more. I raked so much that I briefly considered counting it as a cardio workout in my calorie counter app.





Another victim of winter that is now showing its true colors is our front steps. This, ladies and gentleman, is what happens when wooden steps are shoveled seven million times over the winter. As the snow gets scraped off, so does the paint.

I'm too busy refinishing furniture so if anyone wants to come paint my steps, I'll pay you in cupcakes and high-fives. Do a really good job for me and I just might throw in a beer or two.





As my quest to play outside continued, I also managed to find the most beautiful sign of spring. Yes! A real flower. Granted, it is growing amongst a mess of weeds. But it is purple, my favorite color and I love it.





It sits right along the edge of the driveway and I've made sure to smile at it every time I drive by. I'm hoping that enough love will make it blossom into a gorgeous garden of purple glory.

As the evening wore on I got my table sanded and slapped on a few coats of paint. While I was finishing up I heard the most exciting noise I've heard in months. Instead of the hum of snowblowers, or the neighbor's children screaming, I heard a bird chirping. I squinted my eyes and scanned the trees looking for the little guy who was singing such a beautiful song. I never did see him, but I did find the first signs of spring on the tips of the tree branches. Little baby buds just waiting to burst.

Of course, those new leaves will just eventually fall to the ground where they'll lay for another winter because I will undoubtedly forget to rake them again...but we'll tackle that next year.

In the mean time, even if the temperatures aren't exactly cooperating I can now rest easy knowing that spring is actually here. The flowers and the trees are all the proof I need.