Spring re-cap

I think it is always good for people to think about the happy times in life. Near the end of every season I find myself making a mental list of things I did that season, and with one week to go until the official start of summer, my mind is at it again.

Spring of 2010 opened with us having a fantastic time at the Suwannee Springfest Musical Festival, which I already wrote about. Then, in April, we made a few visits to Busch Gardens and Sarah tried to get too friendly with a flamingo.

We took a tour of Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and while we were there Sarah and I had one of my all-time favorite conversations. She asked, "Daddy, in the old days did they have football fields?" and I responded by saying, "That depends on what 'old days' you're talking about" -- to which she responded by saying, "I'm talking about the 1970's."

The weekend before Mother's Day, Sarah and I visited a do-it-yourself pottery place so she could make her own Mother's Day present for Erika. She chose two small statues (a Chihuahua and a giraffe) and painted them without any help from me. She enjoyed the project even though she was sick that day. Because she was obviously not feeling well, I chose not to fight it when she didn't want to brush her hair, and as a result she sported a bit of a Crystal Bowersox look.

We all went blueberry picking one afternoon, and I took this picture of Erika and Sarah on the farm:

And we enjoyed a birthday party for Sarah's friend Brady. It was held at a wildlife rescue known as Nanny's Educational Zoo, and while we were there, Sarah bonded with a baby opossum.

And we had fun "raising" butterflies after Erika ordered caterpillars by mail. The caterpillars fed for several days and then spun cocoons, which we hung in a mesh cage made especially for that purpose. Several days later, five butterflies popped out of the cocoons in a 24-hour span, and two days after that we let them go free.

And, last but certainly not least, Sarah graduated from preschool.

This spring has been very difficult in a number of ways. But as usual, the joys have outweighed the pain, and it is the joys I choose to focus on. Abraham Lincoln observed that "most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be." If you keep that observation in mind, you will find yourself embracing life and seeing the brightness even on your darkest days.