Today is the first day of Lent.

Just thought you might like to know. But that's not the subject of my post.

February is my least favorite month. Its only redeeming quality is that it plays host to three birthdays in my family (including my own). That's one reason to like February to a half dozen to despise it. For one, there's the weather. Right about the end of January my patience with winter starts to wear thin and I begin to really, truly, consciously feel ready for spring, and then February comes and winter really hits. Bitter cold, snow, wind - all reminding me that despite what I may wish, spring really is not anywhere in sight.

Then there's school. By February everyone is tired of school. We've all been going at it for six months now, and the winter semester is finally picking up, but unlike March (which is equally busy) April is still too far away for the end to be in view.

And on top of that, February is about the time that all the wonderful optimism spawned by two weeks away and the new year back at the beginning of January has finally come up against reality, and I haven't yet had time to recalibrate. It's not that I'm depressed or anything because I'm not - it's more circumstantial than emotional. But February is pretty much the low point of my year. I don't ever look back on a year and think, You know, I was awfully happy with life back in February. June, maybe, or September or December or April. Even January on occasion. Just not February.

But yesterday was beautiful.

It's funny how relative perception is. The maximum temperature was probably somewhere in the upper 30s. In California, that would feel terribly cold, but here, after sub-zero tempertures and then a major snowstorm, it felt like spring. It really did. In the morning it was both light enough and warm enough to go running outdoors first thing, something I haven't been able to do since before the break, and when I headed out the door for campus a couple hours later I wore just two layers, one of them short-sleeved. Birds were chirping. I swear I saw the prequel to the beginning of flower buds on a few trees. Sidewalks that were covered with slush on my walk to campus were completely clear on my walk home. And on that same walk home I called Kelsey to wish her happy birthday and the hand holding myself didn't freeze. I was so excited about the weather that when I went to institute I donned a light sweater and left my coat at home. I was a bit on the cold side walking the half block to my car, but it was completely worth the feeling of being outdoors without heavy layers. I woke up yesterday in a bit of a negative mood, and I went to bed that night feeling fantastic.

Don't be fooled - spring is not here. Today we should reach the forties, but this morning all the melted snow had turned to ice and the road conditoins were no longer conducive to outdoor running. The trees won't actually start to bloom for at least a month, probably more. We still have snow and wind and sub-freezing temperatures in the forecast. Still, yesterday was a sign that we are finally over the hump, a reminder that even though winter is not over, it will end.