On may way to work over the weekend (yes, the weekend; such is the case when you launch a new TV network), a guy in a convertible pulled up next to me at a red light.
No big deal.
A common occurrence.
Well yeah. If you live in California at this time of year.
Or if it's July here in Montreal.
Note: This is not a rant about global warming......the temperature at the time of the convertible sighting was a crisp six degrees Celsius (about 44 Fahrenheit for you non-metric-ites).
No, this is a rave about, after a number of decades, me finally "getting" what Spring is all about.
It was still kinda frosty over this mid-March weekend. I was in a coat and stylish scarf, and needed it. But as I drove to the office, in addition to Mr. Convertible, I passed relatively sane and extremely happy people in shorts, short sleeves and other apparel better suited to summer climes.
The denizens of my fair city weren't dressing for the weather, they were dressing for a statement. And that statement is, after months of cold and relative hibernation, it's time for a celebration of regeneration and renewal. To hell with what the thermometer says today, let's dress for what it's going to be tomorrow!
The change of seasons is a microcosm of life as we know it.
There's a year-to-year consistency to the four seasons, but within this consistency, the day-to-day alternates between highs and lows, in between, and back again.
That said, I often pondered what's a better lifestyle--one where you live a consistent "good" or fluctuate throughout the extremes of "awful" to "outstanding."
Often, I thought the former--smooth, calm, predictable--may be preferable.
No more. Go figure I'd learn this from some dude in a Volvo rag-top at a traffic light on a Sunday morning.
I suppose it's the same reason why I'd probably go nuts living in L.A. Basically the same weather all the time. Life as the movie "Groundhog Day."
There's an incomparable joy that comes when you emerge from a funk, be it a personal situation or a too-long season of cold, snow and worse.
So it's no wonder people love Spring.
Count me as one of 'em. Finally.
Too bad it took me so long to appreciate it.
Guess it's time to pull out the Vette, peel off a layer (or two)...and paste on a smile.
Because before I know it, it's gonna be winter again.
Speaking about smiling, you can take the boy out of comedy, but you can't take comedy out of the boy.
Or so it seems with the picture below.
Remember the Richard Branson / Purple Jacket episode? If not, re-live it here.
And check out the illustration I just had sent over this week from McGill University Dean of Management Peter Todd (a former classmate, and pictured in between me and Sir Richard).
Don't remember what I was saying, but damn, it must've been good...