Thoughts on Springtime

-Julia Pillard

                Dawn. The light of the sun filters through the misty morning haze, creeping down across the academic buildings, slithering across the lawn, and sweeping through the branches of evergreens, aspens, and oak trees before it hits me full force. A gentle breeze arcs around me. It’s eight a.m.

                I find it is necessary, at this time of the year, to actually sit back and reflect on life. A lot of people do this in the autumn or New Years, but I believe it is far more productive to do it in the spring when everything feels new and remarkable and beautiful. Think about it. On that first day filled with sunshine, everyone around you slips into their tank tops and flip flops, grabbing sunglasses and a Frisbee and heading out to enjoy the warm weather. This is the time of year when everyone comes out from their homes and apartments to say hello to the sky and sun, to their friends, to the world once more. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect time of year to begin again, just as the earth itself is doing?

                Iowa is stickier than where I’m from, but the humidity cools off enough in the evenings that taking walks around campus is just about the most enjoyable thing I can think to do right now. The other night, while walking around campus as the stars were coming out, I listened to people chattering, laughing, walking through quads and tossing footballs to their friends. I heard music spilling from the music hall, watched theatre students run, skip, and hop rambunctiously to rehearsal, and listened to seniors elaborate on how good it felt to be graduating…but how scared they were about what they were going to do next.

                Don’t be scared. If we live our lives wondering what comes next, then we won’t have time to enjoy what comes at this moment. Springtime isn’t the time to think about the future. It’s the time to think about the now; the beautiful sky, the cotton-candy clouds, the flowers peeking out from beneath the hardened earth. So seniors, and everyone, don’t be scared. I have found that, when you need it most, life has a way of pulling you through. For now, why don’t you grab a Frisbee, call up some friends, and head out into the sun again.