Santa Barbara 2012
East Mesa, Shoreline Park
“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.”
Four seasons painted on the canvas of a lifetime. A pristine surface startled awake by the splash of our birth's first stroke of spring color, and declared complete with our winter signature upon our return to spirit. In-between, a mosaic of experiences passing through the same cycle of seasons. Schooling. Relationships. Careers. Jobs. Interests. Each with bookends labeled "Action!" on the front end, and "That's a wrap!" on the back.
This January, I wrapped up a career with a company. A company I saved from bankruptcy twenty years ago. A company that has given hundreds of families the opportunity to live well. One that still does. The winter of my career there was difficult. It wasn't my choice, and the end was like a death. But without death, there is no opportunity for rebirth. There is no spring without winter. But have no doubt. Spring is relentless. There is always spring. Every time. No exceptions.
I left that twenty-year cycle not knowing in my head what was next, but confident in my heart that new beginnings would emerge. Living every day with that expectation, I have made more new friends and reconnected with more old ones in the last two months than in the previous two years. Opportunities and friendships are emerging now that would never have sprouted without the end of this twenty-year cycle and my anticipation of the spring to follow.
So today, on this first day of spring, revel in the opportunity of rebirth. But also give thanks to winter for bringing an end to that which has run its course. A mosaic of rich experience. Four seasons. One canvas. A lifetime masterpiece of endings and new beginnings.