Spring always seems to arrive with a list.
Not the gentle, poetic kind you imagine when the snow starts melting. No, the real version — the one that sits on the kitchen table, scribbled across scraps of paper and the back of envelopes.
Because as soon as the light comes back, you suddenly see everything that needs doing.
There are the sensible things first.
Taxes need filing.
Court paperwork needs organizing.
Binders need sorting so I’m ready for the next step in family court.
None of that work is glamorous, but it’s necessary. The kind of work that builds stability one document at a time.
Then there’s the house.
Spring cleaning has begun, which means I am now on a mission. Closets, cupboards, piles of winter things that somehow multiplied while we weren’t looking. And of course, the teenagers’ bedrooms — which appear to operate under an entirely different definition of “clean.”
Let’s just say negotiations are ongoing.
But the house projects are also starting to move again.
The bathroom still needs the mudding finished so I can finally paint it and tick that room off the list. It’s one of those small renovations that has lingered longer than expected, quietly waiting for me to get back to it.
And then there’s the kitchen.
Before anything else can happen, I need to get the gas engineer back so the hob can finally be connected. Once that’s done, I can install the countertops and actually start pulling the kitchen together.
It’s funny how one small step holds up an entire project. One professional appointment, one connection, one piece in place — and suddenly everything else can move forward.
That’s how renovations go.
Actually, that’s how life goes.
You chip away at things slowly. One repair, one form, one decision, one step forward. Eventually the pieces start fitting together again.
Outside, winter is still putting up a fight. There are still snowbanks taller than the dog and about three feet of snow covering most of the yard.
Which makes it slightly ridiculous that this Saturday I will also be participating in a polar bear plunge.
Yes, into freezing water.
No, I’m not entirely sure what possessed me to sign up.
Somewhere along the way I clearly accepted that I might have a loose screw.
But maybe that’s part of this season too.
Spring has a way of waking something up inside you. The part that says maybe it’s time to start moving again. Time to tackle the projects. Time to clean out the corners. Time to make changes.
Even if the snow hasn’t quite gotten the memo yet.
So the list continues.
Taxes.
Court paperwork.
Teenagers’ bedrooms.
Bathroom mudding and paint.
Gas engineer for the hob.
Kitchen countertops.
Digging the mailbox out of the snow.
And apparently…
Jumping into freezing water.
Spring doesn’t arrive all at once.
Sometimes it arrives as a to-do list and the quiet determination to start checking things off, one by one. 🌱
