Happy Spring!

By Erik Hare

Spring is supposed to arrive in Saint Paul right around Easter and Passover.  “Supposed to” is the key part of that, because we can never be sure, given the different timings of the holidays and weather mysteries in the middle of a big continent.  This year, though, we’re right on schedule.  Everyone, breathe deeply as you open your houses up to Spring!

In my neighborhood, we have an annual tradition of an Easter Egg hunt out in Irvine Park.  They aren’t real eggs, but bright plastic ones carefully filled with candy and chocolate.  It’s important that they be bright, after all, because there have been a few years when it’s been held with a little bit of snow still left on the ground.  We’ve always held it no matter what, because we’re brave Minnesotans and we don’t let the weather phase us.  Also, it’s good to pretend that it’s warm even when it’s not.

Traditions like this are about many things, but nothing is more important than the reminiscing.  “Oh, I remember when …” starts off a lot of sentences as we see some of our neighbors for the first time since the Halloween pumpkin judging.  It’s a way of saying that we have a lot of shared experiences, stretching from the insanely cold Easters when we had to pretend it was Spring to the green lively ones where the squirrels bounded after the eggs as quick as the kids. 

This starts Porch Season, the time when we can sit outside and wave at everyone going by, chatting up the bits of gossip and news that make a neighborhood whole.  It’s a fun tradition to start things off.  The kids grow up to be more helpful than greedy, and a new generation runs down the hill in search of the patches of color amid the brown.  It’s the colors of the season that matter most, and we always hope it’s going to be green.  This year, it’s only a little bit green on the edges, but it’s enough.  It’s a start.  Spring has arrived.