Renewal (reprint!)

I noticed a patch of open water night-before-last as the sun was setting over the western horizon.

Today the thawed area is much larger.  A couple of swans are happily camped out there with their tails in the air, scrounging for whatever winter-wilted seaweed delicacies they might find.  As their heads bob back to the surface periodically, they’re greeted by morning sun that promises further thawing and larger expanses of open water. 

Scenes like this encourage me if I just take time to soak them up until they sink into my soul.  Just now I daringly wandered outside for a minute without a coat and walked down to the lake to take my fill.  Standing on the seawall like a wary turtle just out of hibernation, the sun beat on my back.  I gulped the water-smells, the first since before the ice went on in December, and relished a sense of renewal.