Some days are just inspiring and today has been one of them.  Nothing earthshattering, just a lot of little things that at any other time, would be nice, perhaps even pleasant, but not necessarily inspiring.  

Had to take a drive downtown this morning, taking my usual route, but today I noticed that the big old trees on either side of the street had really started to pop with leaves and flowers.  The canopy of trees was beginning to form, as it does every spring, but today it brought a new joy.  Despite the craziness of the past year, life, as Jeff Goldblum would say, finds a way.  The grass is green, the robins are plentiful, and little yellow and purple flowers are everywhere.  It happens every year, but for some reason, this year brings a hope that I have not experienced before.

The reason for going downtown today was to make sure lunch was delivered to some judges for a show choir competition at the Lied Center.  Since we moved here over 20 years ago, the Lied Center has in some ways been a home away from home.  The yearly All-State Concerts are held there and I’ve spent many hours messing around, laughing and eating with colleagues backstage between concerts, where I’ve attended the UNL Highlights concert, as well as many other concerts and musicals.  As I walked in today, I was greeted by friends and staff and it was as if nothing had changed, as if the lights had never been turned off for the past year.  It was a sign of rebirth for this venue and the way I perceive a place I’ve become so familiar with.

As I sat at lunch with the judges in the green room, I listened to them talk about how great it was to have the opportunity to listen to live music again with a small but enthusiastic audience.  The talked about their own teaching, and how at the beginning of the year they had to institute 8’x8’ “boxes” for their music students to stay in so they could learn safely and how far things had progressed for the better during this strange year.  

Resiliency reigned as they looked back at what they had been able to do, marveling at their own flexibility, thinking back to what had been a year of intense adjustment and change.  A year which at the beginning seemed like it would last forever and in hindsight seemed to pass so quickly.  A couple of us who are older (much older in my case) laughed, knowing that time is a tricky thing, that the years pass much faster than you might think.  We know that every spring brings a rebirth, that every new school year is a rebirth of sorts, a chance to rethink how we do things, a chance to begin anew. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in a profession where you didn’t get that yearly reminder that change is the only constant we have, and that change is an opportunity for rebirth.

For me personally today, I was reminded of how dark things got last year, that I made the decision to leave teaching as I knew it, that all traveling, something I LOVE, ended, that seeing friends, colleagues, and family in person ceased.  I remembered how gray and snowy it was and how I thought the winter would never end.  Winter has never been my favorite season, but this year, it just represented everything in my life – trapped in my home, not seeing my students, not able to have the adventures I wanted.  A time of death. The pandemic and the restrictions it brought, brought life as I knew it to a standstill and with it a time of mourning. But today is different.  Today I feel a rebirth.

I feel it in the renewed traffic I see outside my window, the businesses reopening, the seating capacities increasing.  I see it in the lines of people getting vaccinated.  I know some people have been very emotional about this, because I’m sure it symbolizes a return to some freedom and the rebirth of their lives.  I’ve not felt that emotion myself as I think I’m a bit more pragmatic about this kind of thing, but I certainly see the symbolism.

I see it in the celebration of the risen Christ, in the blooming of my Easter lilies, in the spring thunderstorms that wash everything clean and make everything green.  There are people out running, riding their bikes and running their lawnmowers.  It’s that resiliency I talked about before, it’s coming out of that dark sleep and being prompted by nature to get our butts back in gear.  The life that was for a while, all browns and grays is now turning bright and colorful.  The “stone” has been rolled away and the light is returning.  How glorious!

Sometimes it takes a time of darkness for us to appreciate a time of rebirth.  What we do with this appreciation remains to be seen.  Do we go back to the way things were, or do we, like a great thunderstorm, clean everything and bring back only the light and bright?  How is this rebirth manifesting itself in your life and bringing about positive change?