3

A warm breeze mixed with the chill in the air, and the weak sunlight struggled to shine through the choking hands of the heavy, grey clouds. As we sat there on the porch together, the year's events ran through my mind. "It's been a rough year", I thought to myself. But even as my mind reviewed the struggles, the pain and the hopelessness I had felt, there was yet a reminder to me of the goodness that had sat in the background. Never very loudly or forcefully, but softly and subtly insisting: I'm still here. The good had never really left; it was just obscured for awhile. But as the warm breeze came through a little stronger, and the sun rose up a little higher over the mountain, it was clear, now more than ever: Spring was here at last.