After counting the days, and then the hours and minutes, Carey and I finally are on vacation.   The months since our last Disney trip have been especially hard for me and this vacation is a much needed time to relax and rebuild.   We are staying Disney’s Old Key West resort in a large one-bedroom villa.   The sign at the entrance to the resort proclaims “Welcome Home” and one of the security guards at the entrance always greets us with a hearty “Welcome Home.”  Each time she says that,  it reminds me that Walt Disney World is our second home, a  place where we are treated like family, surrounded by friendly cast members who make sure that every detail is attended to with pixie dust and Disney magic.   Even though the weather is in the mid 90s, and we get hot and tired after a day in the parks, we have that wonderful feeling of being away in a magical place where dreams really do come true.

The First Day of Spring has always been my favorite holiday.   Even if the day is not Spring-like, I still celebrate it for the promise of a new season after a dreary winter.   In high school I started sending Happy Spring cards and have faithfully sent them for the last 30 years.   The recipient list has now dwindled to three, but I added my mother this year as she is currently recovering from a broken hip and arm and I wanted to send her as much hope for a new season as I could.   Sometimes I make a card from scratch, using my stash of scrapbooking supplies, but since the first day of Spring falls in the midst of my tax busy season I usually buy a blank note card that symbolizes what Spring means to me.  This year I was so busy that I added to my husband’s To-Do List for his day off “Buy Spring cards  (five).”   He rose to the occasion and brought home two sets, so now I have one set aside for next year.

On the inside if the card I always include a quote about Spring, this year’s was from William Wordsworth, a quote I found at the beginning of Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace.   Then I hand write “HAPPY SPRING!!” with my attempts to draw some flowers.   The very act of creating the cards and sending them fills me with hope that the season will arrive and that the winter will pass.

At my first year at my current job, I requested a personal day for the Vernal Equinox.   My boss had never had that request before, and he has rarely honored it.   I have found that the years I have had to postpone my celebration, Spring has been delayed, more than the groundhog’s predicitions.   It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.

And so I wish you all a Happy Spring and hope that the new season will bring joy and hope.