Kevin Yesterday marked the official end of winter according to the calendar, so that means today’s the first day of spring. Better known as the Spring Equinox 2024 or Vernal Equinox 2024, but only according to the calendar. It sure doesn’t feel like spring in some areas, especially in my neck of the woods. It feels like it may as well be the dead of winter, take 2.
I had to be somewhere yesterday for my day job, on the last day of winter. I left the house earlier, since the bus route it’s on doesn’t run as often. I left in the ice cold darkness, w/ the only noise coming from my headphones, and the wind howling through the woods.
The street lights no longer cast those warm yellow glows, but stark, white, cold, and unforgiving glares, since whoever decided those LEDs were a better option. The 20 minute walk to the bus stop went largely uninterrupted, since nobody came down the street that didn’t have a good reason to do so. The sidewalk on both sides ends at a certain point, so things can get dangerous.
I stopped to peek inside a shuttered store, where an old putt-putt golf course once stood for years when I was a kid.
Even though I never had a chance to go there as a kid, since my mom didn’t like anything that didn’t revolve around food, I still miss seeing the place, btw.
Maybe now that it’s spring, I’ll have to go check out the other location in town, assuming it’s even still open.
The store was empty, and the word on the street is that they’re closed for renovations, not closed for good. At least that’s the story I got from corporate when I asked about it on their facebook page.
I hadn’t been on this side of the neighborhood in awhile, not since last summer. There was some construction going on that meant my main route home from the pool wasn’t an option. I either had to go by the store, or cut through my old neighborhood.
It wasn’t long before my feet went numb as I waited at the bus stop, watching the occasional car or semi truck go down the thoroughfare. I wanted to catch the weather report on the AM station, but the reception on what I had wasn’t great, and that AM station hadn’t yet powered up for the day.
All I got was static, and a faint hint of a broadcast out of Saskatchewan. Yeah, not happening. No worries. I can get on the bus’s wifi and hunt for the forecast on my serviceless phone.
This bus can’t come soon enough.
The bus finally arrived, and I felt so thankful to have access to a nice warm bus. Just this time 2 years ago, I didn’t even have this, so when I was able to ride the bus, I savored every second of it, cuz I didn’t know when I’d ever be able to ride the bus again.
We went toward some old stomping grounds, but on the way, there was my mom’s old neighborhood. I have no personal memories of living there, but there are pics of me while my mom lived there. We’d go through that neighborhood from time to time, and I remember how things changed over the years.
Before long, we were getting closer to where I needed to be. I hadn’t been at this place in 20 years. Damn, has it really been that long? I crossed the street and went inside. Almost nobody was there, but I was early enough, so this is the norm for me. I decided to walk around and take a trip down memory lane.
My memories of this place weren’t the best going, and at the time, I was going through a shitty time in my life. This place looked nothing like it did the last time I saw it, and it was a whole new one w/o actually being as such, if that makes sense.
It’s for the best, imo. Clean slate, fresh start.
I spent the day there. It’s hard to believe I left that place at a crossroads in a shitty place in my life in 2004, before things went from bad to worse, and then worse to even worse. Looking back, it never had to get that bad or get to that point.
I felt like this day was the closure I needed, and as I write this, I feel a huge sense of peace.
As the day progressed, the weather started warming up. It was still cold enough to justify the coat, but as I left for the bus stop outside, I didn’t need the mittens after all.
It was no longer dark outside by the time I got home, and hasn’t been for a few weeks at this juncture. Now, I get to go to bed and watch the sunset from my bedroom window again, instead of missing it completely 9 times outta 10.
Winter is now officially behind us. Even though we’re not totally outta the woods in terms of ice cold shitty weather in my neck of the woods, the days are getting longer, and the weather’s getting warmer. Spring is officially here, and this tells me things are gonna get better.
To ring in the new season, I’m gonna have an early dinner, dot the i’s and cross the t’s on this post, and go watch the sun set in my room. Over to you, readers. What are you gonna do to ring in the new season? I’d love to hear all about it, even if it’s nothing. Drop it all like it’s hawt, and let’s talk.
Oh, and btw, Happy Taco Tuesday and Happy Spring, y’all!
