My Life in a Year

It's spring, and I'm young, vibrant, and new.  The world is beautiful with me.  Everything is fresh.  Anything is possible.  I can do it all, sense it all, feel it all.  Everything is open to me.  I breath it all in, I speak it all out.  Life is good, and nothing could be any better.

It's summer, and I'm hot and I'm tired.  I've seized upon so many opportunities, but the vibrance and energy just couldn't last forever.  The sun beats down so much that sometimes I just want to stay inside.  But there's beauty here, too.  The hotter it gets, the more refreshing things become:  a cool drink, a dip in the pool, a chance to relax with my friends.  I've learned that sometimes perfection is not about everything being perfect after all.

It's fall, and I've started to cool down and accept life for what it is.  The colors all around are not the same as in the spring time, but they're even more beautiful when I think of all I've accomplished so far.  I cuddle up with a good book or a good friend.  I go for a walk, I watch a sunset.  I smile, they laugh.  Life is simple and pure.  It's not without its bumps and bruises, but we've done good, all of us, together.  I don't have to always do it all.  And I don't have to take everything so seriously either.

It's winter, and I feel life drawing to a close.  It's cold, and I don't like it, but I'm not alone.  Others are here with me.  We huddle together around the fire, sipping hot cocoa and looking back on it all.  I had a good run, a good life, a good year.  Though the song birds are leaving and the plants seem to be dying all around me, there is still a song in my heart.  I know that life, even at the end, is good.  And I know this isn't the end, not really.  Spring will come again, even it if isn't for me.  Life will go on, even if it isn't for me.  The cold the grips me now is necessary for the next generation to come, to grow, to thrive.  Soon, it will be spring.