Do you know the smell of spring?
What comes to mind when I ask that question?
Maybe it’s the smell of dirt after it has rained. Maybe it’s the scent of lilacs in bloom. Maybe it’s the smell of freshly laundered clothing that we’re about to wear outside on a warmer day.
What is it for you?
We’re able to anticipate those things because we’ve experienced them before. And I think there’s a certain wisdom in that. I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like to live through winter if we had no idea that spring would return.
Even when we grow tired of winter (I am, aren’t you?) we still carry the memory that change is coming. I’m glad we can anticipate that.
And in the midst of so much chaos and pain in our world, I’m glad that we can still anticipate some goodness, even if much is unpredictable. It’s interesting that we can sort of remember the future. We can easily imagine aspects of the future because of what we have known in the past.
Maybe that memory can help guide us.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 