Seven Signs that Spring has Sprung

My sister, in all of her silliness and profundity, wrote this poem a few years ago:

Spring has sprung,
The grass is green.
I know you wonderin'
Where I been.

In mid-March, my sister calls (usually with my niece on speakerphone) for her annual poetry recital. This poem reminds me, when the weather isn't doing such a great job, that Spring is coming. There is a certain rhythm with which she recites it. There is a lilt in her cadence that isn't normally present when she speaks. And when she is done, without fail, laughter erupts on the line. We laugh until our bellies shake and tears come out of our eyes. We laugh so hard that we have to catch our breath from laughing, which usually makes us laugh again. That is the silliness.

The profundity, you ask? Well, in yet another act of silliness, during the 2011 recital, as the resident scholar in the family, I provided a narration to the poem that caused me to think (and us to laugh). I don't remember my words verbatim, but I recall highlighting the way in which the poem speaks of the blooming and bursting forth of Spring, the rich verdancy of the season, and the way in which Spring calls us out of winter's hibernation.

That being the first sign of Spring, here are six other signs that let me know that Spring has sprung:
2. Even the weeping willow trees have a certain air of joy about them....
3. Forsythia blooms outside of my window signal that something beautiful is about to happen...
4. My toes rejoiced at the thought (and practice) of being free to soak in the rays of the sun...
5. Dawn and dusk deer sightings...
6. I could sermonate from a park bench, instead of cooped in my office or at Panera Bread...
7. Hearing the varied sounds kids playing cricket/soccer/basketball at the field across from our bedroom window...

What signs let you know that Spring has sprung?

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