I had been looking forward to this since the snow began to melt.

This is the second spring in our new our house, and whoever lived here before us planted the most beautiful flowers and fruit trees in our yard. I’m excited to see them again.

When I heard the newly returned robins asking each other questions, I knew it was finally time to clear all the dead leaves and litter from the past several months in order to make room for new growth.

And as I pulled out the dried and ugly memories of last year to reveal the small but persistent green growth that had already begun to emerge, my mind couldn’t help but look for morals in the metaphor.

Some spots were easy to manage. Some spots required concentration, and took me longer than I would have liked. Sometimes I made mistakes, and hurt something I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I took a break, and came back when I was ready. I made my way through bit by bit. I started to panic as the light of the day began to fade—but then I realized I could try again tomorrow.