It’s the first day of SPRING!!!

It’s the first day of SPRING!!!  Do you know what that means?!  Absolutely nothing to the weather in Montana, that’s what.  Hahaha!  Actually, it’s supposed to be in the low 50’s F here today, so I can’t complain about that!  I’m excited that it’s actually spring, too.  It means that I made it through another winter.  I’m not real keen on winter.  There are some beautiful things about winter, but the cold really gets to me and the lack of sunshine, well, that really gets to me…  This winter is the first winter that I’ve been through where a Major Depressive Episode has lasted the entirety of the season, and it has been a tough one.  I don’t have Seasonal Affective Disorder, that I know of.  This is the first year it’s happened.  I certainly hope that it never happens again, too!  I’d be okay with never being depressed again, too, by the way!  It was a large part situational, though.  I was sick for a long spell and unable to climb, which is what made it so bad.  Had I been able to climb and have my climbing routine, it wouldn’t have been as severe or as long, I don’t think.  I’m just starting to come out of it.  I plan on climbing this morning and mapping out some of the routes and problems in the climbing gym, since they just reset yesterday (as they do every Monday).  I’m glad there’s more daylight and longer days now.  This is when I really start to notice it, and then, pretty soon, there’ll be little green buds on everything and the crocuses will come up and start blooming, followed by the tulips and the growth of this huge patch of ferns in the front of this one historic house in my neighborhood…  I love the ferns!!!  If I could live in a place where there were ferns all over the place, I would!!!  I love ferns!!!  I also love rock climbing, though, and rock climbing trumps even ferns (now that’s saying something!).  Grass will grow and green up, dandelions will pop up everywhere…  I’m just so glad that we’re almost into the warmer weather so that I can start thinking about climbing outside again!!!  I know a few people who have already started, but I also know that one of them popped a tendon only three hours into his big pilgrimage to the great outdoors this past weekend, so be careful about getting ahead of yourself!  Anyway, spring means green things and the outdoors and fresh, clean air!  Yay!  I’m excited to get back outdoors to climb!  I’ll be starting from scratch, but that’s okay.  I’ll be overjoyed just to climb on real rock at any level!!!  The weather will have to cooperate, which will take a few more weeks, but it’s close.  It’s coming, I can feel it!  I’ll even be able to at least drive to the next nearest climbing gym for a day if I want to!  No, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my climbing gym.  It’s just nice to go for a drive and see other places sometimes.  Severe case of cabin fever, I’m afraid…