My turn: Spring is revitalizing

My rose garden was really in bad shape. Last year's drought, coming on the heels of that fantastically cold winter, certainly took its toll. So I found myself on a sunny March day, pruning shears in hand, tackling the first gardening of the season … trying to get the roses shaped up.

As I cut away at the dead wood, and pruned back the fresh green healthy branches, I was filled with hope. Hope that I was doing the right thing and cutting in the right places. Hope that the wind wouldn't treat the tender new leaves like a blow torch. Hope that Roosevelt County would get rain, rain, and more rain this year. Hope that this would be the best year ever, and that life would be filled with beautiful bouquets of fragrant yellow and white roses.

Spring does that for us. Although things are brown and dry, we're filled with bright thoughts about tomorrow. We're able to imagine sunshine on our shoulders, incredible thunderstorms followed by that marvelous scent of rain on the land and rainbows in the sky, green lawns, burgers on the grill, and picnics where the tablecloths don't blow away.

On this first day of spring, I wish all these things for all of us.

Sandy keeps an online journal at her website www.field-days.com. E-mail her at [email protected].