It’s been a busy week, as most weeks in May tend to be. I’m married to a teacher and also tutor after school, so the sounds of a school in high gear have been buzzing in my ears. Everyone is past the tired stage, with kids in hyper mode and teachers hanging by their Expo markers. The weekends are packed with birthday parties and graduation parties, while I’ve scheduled dozens of appointments in the middle of it all (I do it to myself). We’re thinking about moving (again), but only across town, and longingly planning our summer vacation.

All of it is wrapped up in the realization that our very first year here is already ending, much too our astonishment. The calendar pages flew out our condo window, and the whole last nine months seems much like a dream. There’s been more than one time that I’ve woken up from sleep and wondered for a split second: Where am I?

In the midst of May, however, and in the middle of a busy week, I realized it was time again for one of my outside posts. So with the sun in our favor and a supper of sandwiches, we found ourselves with a pleasant hour. We all pulled on our suits, loaded up our red plastic wagon and headed to the pool. A quiet hour after supper to watch the kiddos leap joyfully into the pool again and again and again.

And as we sat there watching in this surprising hour of peace and quiet, my husband pulled out the question: What’s your favorite memory of this year? And, being too lazy to pick out just one, I simply said, “Our life. This. Time to go to the pool together.” And happily, so happily, I realized that I meant it.

That’s what I love about being outside, watching the clouds steadily stream by and the sun set again on a day, it gives you time to meditate on life, the way time marches on, and your small place among all of it. You step away from your home, your calendar, your month of May, and suddenly you have time to contemplate. You realize as you watch the sun rise and set, the moon wax and wane, the summer come again, that life wasn’t meant to end…your soul was created to know eternity. And even though life has to end here on earth, God ensured that your life would go on into eternity. And with that thought brings the knowledge that all this here and now, it’s just a speck. It’s just momentary. We can be thankful for this sunny afternoon, we can endure a dark night. A different kind of Spring is on its way.