It was a lover and his lass...

"Springtime, the only pretty ring time, the birds sing a hey ding, a ding, ding... Sweet lovers love the spring."
Willy Wonka may have sung it, but Willy Shakespeare said it first.

Oh if only...

This morning I woke up to neither love or springtime, but I feel dangerously close to both. Well, maybe not quite the former, but spring is undoubtedly right around the corner. My first thought when I stepped off my front porch into a wind-whipping snow storm was, "Ha ha, Mother Nature. You think you are SO funny." I couldn't even enjoy my Oatmeal Squares out of a milk-heavy ziplock because I needed my hands to keep the slapping wind from blowing the hood off my head and bits of snow into my face. Hmph.

In the love category, we have a new candidate who will undoubtedly fade into the ever-burgeoning array of guys who don't quite make the cut for one reason or another. We didn't have a cinematic meet-cute: he's in my ward and I befriended his brother before I even knew he existed. But he's a down-to-earth cowboy,  passionate about country dancing, pole-vaulting, and Patrick McManus (and it doesn't hurt that he's cut like a Bernini). But as it is with nearly every other guy in whom I develop interest, there's a slew of complications and the pragmatics just aren't quite there. However, there is something to be said for a guy who can get me to listen to country music and actually like it. Dang him, that little raspberry.

Okay, okay.

I kind of stink at blogging. Not kind of--really. So I'm setting a goal to do better and to be better. Not just with my blog (which still feels completely alien and thus, my aversion to it), but with my life. These last couple of months have had a lot of ups and downs. Mostly downs. In an effort to combat them, I am going to make some improvements in my life, starting (somewhat superficially) with my blog. I'm also hoping that if I publicize my goals, it will help me maintain them. We'll see.

• Let go. Whether it's destructive relationships, material possessions, or regrets--let it go.
• Allow ambition. Life is unexpected, but it's never too late to believe in your dreams, cheesy as it sounds.
• Truly follow your heart (and the Spirit). It's not a foreign concept. Have faith and trust in the Lord.

I'm graduating next week and it's time for another new beginning. I'll be honest--I'm scared. The future, previously mapped and predictable, is now my past, chartered and finite. I couldn't have predicted the outcome to which I am now subjected; it's intimidating and unfamiliar, broad and unnavigable. The options are endless and the opportunities are overwhelming. But as I delineated, faith is the key, and the only firm thing onto which I can hold.