Spring (Among the Living)

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/YDjGnCvDOk4

Boy, I was ready
Boy, I was ready for spring
Its beauty changes, changes everything
Done hibernating, we animals roam out of our holes
Then we spend all spring looking for the next one to go down

Among the living
Among the living again
Out in the light of day's warm embrace again

Among the living
Among the living again
I didn't think I'd make it

~  My Morning Jacket

So, yes. Today is the first day of spring. And yes, I am a snowbird, still in South Florida until it is nearly summer up north. But having spent 64 winters in the Northeast, I am still prone to getting excited about the onset of warm weather, house wrens, daffodils, tulips, garden readiness, after-dinner hours spent on the porch swing, that slant of evening sun, robins on the greening grass, and asparagus. All that and more.

I am a big fan of My Morning Jacket. I took my daughter Jenna to see them at Levon Helm's barn a few years ago. We sat in the front row. The musicianship of this band was a marvel to behold. And their humble gratitude at being able to perform in Levon's home was moving. It has been exciting to watch the band evolve over the years. Initially, they played it safe, highlighting songs that might make it into the popular playlists. But once acknowledged and respected, the band got a bit edgier, as evidenced by today's song choice.

This song was released on 2015's The Waterfall.   Did you watch the video?  My research tells me that the waterfall in the video is Vernal Falls in Yosemite.  If that is true, I have seen it.  The video is stylized enough, though, that I cannot recognize it.  Doesn't matter.  It's a magnificent waterfall.  All waterfalls are magnificent.

We animals roam out of our holes / Then we spend all spring looking for the next one to go down.  So I cannot resist the neon arrow pointing to the popular phrase "WE'VE GONE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE!!"  I spent some time looking up various definitions of that phrase.  Obviously, it comes from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  It is clearly a metaphor for entry into the unknown or the disorienting.  It can also refer to entering a period of chaos or confusion.  But my favorite definition is this one, from Merriam-Webster:  "to enter into a situation or begin a process or journey that is particularly strange, problematic, difficult, complex or chaotic, especially one that becomes increasingly so as it develops or unfolds."

Yep.  And as sure as today is the first day of spring, we animals are heading deeper into one crazy rabbit hole.  Buckle up!