Signs of Spring
I’m taking a break from my usual content to share part of a photo project I’ve been working on while our family adjusts to our new reality of daily life during a global pandemic.
Our family is about a month into all of us staying home.
On our second day of staying home, we started going for a short morning walk, together. It’s a good way to make sure we all get dressed, get a little fresh air, and let the kids get some energy out. We take the same route every time, and have been keeping our eye on one tree, noticing it’s tiny changes each day.
When I realized that we might be in isolation for many months, I figured that our morning routine would give us the opportunity to watch this tree transform from a bunch of empty branches into a magnificent pink spectacle.
I started taking photos on March 17, day 6 of our isolation. You can see in the first photo, that the branches are almost all empty, save for one set of early blooms.
Most mornings the kids grumble and complain about not wanting to go on the “stupid tree walk.” But by the time we’re a block away from “our tree” both of them run to be the first to see if there are new flowers.
In the last few weeks the tree has filled with delicate reddish leaves, each leaf growing a little bigger and sturdier each day.
Watching nature proceed as planned, even in the middle of a city, even in the middle of a lock down, even in the middle of a global pandemic, has a settling effect. This recurring moment of joy has been a lovely anchor at a time when I feel adrift with no map or compass.
And finally, in the last few days, the tiny buds we’ve been watching carefully, have opened into glorious, many-petaled pink blossoms. The new blossoms of this tree - one that I’ve driven by for 10 years, and scarcely taken note of before- were cause for exclamations and celebration. I hope this ability to slow down, be present, and take in small moments of beauty stays with me and my kids post-pandemic.
School in San Francisco is cancelled for the rest of the school year, so it looks like we’ll be watching “our tree” all the way through the spring and summer. In a time where there are few events to look forward to, I’ll be looking forward to each opening blossom, each sign of spring.
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Below are a selection of photos of the blossoms, and below that, a scroll of the tree progression.
