spring is definitely my favorite season in dc

prior to moving to dc, neither b nor i ever lived anywhere besides michigan. that is to say, we had never experienced spring. some joke that in michigan there are only two seasons (winter and road construction), but really the only season we're missing is spring. it simply does not exist.

so that first spring here, we were amazed. everytime we'd leave the apartment, b would walk into spring like a wall, look around confused and say, you know, i think spring is my favorite season in dc. every time we left the apartment. seriously. every year we say it almost as often as b did that first year and laugh, but it's still so true.

you'd think that, four years later, spring would be no big deal. but every year, i'm still blown away. today, i was walking down pennsylvania at my lunch break, and a woman with big black sunglasses, a white spring trench coat and tall boots rode past me on her bicycle, her coach bag perched snugly in the basket on the front of her bike. i can't be sure, but it may have been audrey hepburn circa 1958. people were out and they were smiling .... actually, they were grinning stupidly like little kids on recess.

in michigan, there are often a few warm days before mid-may, but they don't feel ... the same. it doesn't really ever smell like spring the way it does here, and the wind still has a bite, like old man winter is grabbing you by the earlobe to remind you he hasn't died just yet. the sun isn't as warm. and of course there is usually still some snow on the ground.

but here - god! the birds all start chirping and the sun feels great. the smell is intoxicating, even this early. and when spring arrives, it arrives. and usually so suddenly, like all the congressional staff after that long august recess. one day you can hear a pin drop and the next is all bustling, chattling, and clicking high heels.

the spring-induced endorphines coursing through my veins after just 20 minutes outside are so strong that not even hearing my boss Smelly clip his fingernails at his desk can bring me down. nor can the fact that i have that cheesy brady bunch song "sunshine day" stuck in my head.