Ode to Spring, When Love Was Wilder Than the Wind

Listen to your heart.

It was a gorgeous day, the first full day of spring, and my husband and I spent some really lovely hours hiking and sitting in our chairs enjoying the music and the day, up on Sandy Ridge Trail, between State College and Philipsburg.

We were there last summer and saw an abundance of butterflies that day; it was amazing, a day of splendor in the grass and glory in the flower; one of the best butterfly experiences of my life! But this day was a bit cool and my husband said, right off the bat, "Well, I don't think you'll see any butterflies today." Spoiler alert: but he was wrong!

We took our chairs out to the far end of the field and set them up, and got out our books, but mostly ignored them, for the day was too pretty to waste. "It's almost like being at the beach but . . . you know . . . without the ocean," my husband said, sagely. We jammed to some great tunes. We ate cheese sandwiches. We drank orange soda. (So sue me, I'm turning into one of the Waponi Woo.) We saw bluebirds.

And then we talked about how amazing it is to live in a place with four seasons, where, every year, we get to watch things die off in the fall, and then come back in the springtime. Watching them go is . . . hard. But watching things come back is joyous!

My husband insisted we walk around a bit and sit in a different spot, though I was quite pleased with the spot we were already IN. And as we were walking there, I tilted my head to hear a distant sound. It was like the ringing of golden bells. Could it be peepers? We walked toward it.

And what did we find but the big surprise of the day: a vernal pool, on top of the hill, hidden in a copse of woods that we have walked by a hundred times! I still can't believe it. The surprising thing being not just the location of it (ponds often being a low-land sort of thing), but that we NEVER NOTICED IT BEFORE.

The leaves are off the trees now, mostly, so we could SEE everything. And I walked all around that pond, and found one of the biggest clumps of amphibian eggs I've ever seen in one spot (see extra photos). It was glorious. I want to go back in a few weeks just to listen to the amphibian music! Oh, and as we left to go back to the car, a dark shape fluttered around me: mourning cloak! And so we did see one butterfly after all!

That is the story to go with my pictures, but listen, I have one more thing to say. On this day, I had a big thought. Guess what: now that I'm retired, and am out having fun with my husband on any and all days that we want to, I don't hate Mondays anymore!!! Yay!!! I am freer than I have ever been, and I can love Mondays now!

It is my tradition to include a soundtrack song, and I want to tell you this. Listen to your heart! Do what your heart tells you to do! If that means retiring earlier than everybody else thought was reasonable, to spend more days and hours with the one(s) you love, DO IT NOW!!! Listen to your heart!

My soundtrack song has to be this one: Roxette's amazing tune, Listen to Your Heart. (Sadly, Marie Fredriksson, female lead singer of Roxette, passed away a few years ago.) And here is an amazing cover of this song that I heard on the radio today; I just fell in love with it: D.H.T., with Listen to Your Heart. And here is a different and fun cover by Through Fire, with Listen to Your Heart. Below are some of the lyrics. . . .

And there are voices that want to be heard
So much to mention but you can't find the words
The scent of magic, the beauty that's been (beauty that's been)
When love was wilder than the wind