Page 12 - HumberHappenings | Spring 2023

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTORS
LIFE’S UNDERTAKINGS
STEP INTO SPRING WITH JOY
BY BRAD JONES
12 HUMBER HAPPENINGS | SPRING 2023
WWW.HBSCA.CA
My favourite springtime memory as a kid was the sound of a VW Camper coming up our street. The camper’s arrival meant that spring was finally here. My grandparents were returning from their winter home in Clearwater, Florida.
The VW always appeared on a Sunday. It was always unpacked and parked by early afternoon. And my grand- parents always stayed for dinner. If you’re smiling right now, I’m grateful. All of us could benefit from more sunshine around us and within us.
If you’re an old-timer like me, you may have heard the expression “there’s no joy in Mudville”, a saying that denotes perva- sive feelings of disappointment and doom. But spring is all about mud. And what grows in mud? Just about everything.
So many of us love new but hate change. And we’ve had to adapt to a lot of new changes that have forced us to slow down, look within and dig deep.
I realized my mindset had shifted back to positive when I noticed I was no longer looking at old photographs and watching home videos (I was once so skinny!) through the lens of nostalgia and loss.
Over the past few weeks my “Mudville” perspective has shifted back to my child- hood interpretation of spring: fun, play, friends, adventure. If I were forced to use adult language, I’d describe springtime as
a season of rebirth, rejuvenation and relaxation.
Yes, this spring feels like a new begin- ning but it’s a season that has taken a long time to take root, grow and bear fruit. But then again, few of us felt particularly inspired New Year’s Eve; we just wanted the last two years gone.
But now with the First Day of Spring already behind us, can we not escape Mudville-thinking? Are we capable of adding more joy to our lives and the lives of others?
Of course we can. Seeds of joy are planted in the gardens of our stories, our memories, our favourite people and places. Let’s reflect, remember and start planting rows of seeds containing our future hopes, dreams and desires.
I’ll never drive around in my grandfa- ther’s 1971 VW Camper hanging out with friends ever again (see our ad and yes, it’s purple) but even as I write the words “VW Camper” I smile. I actually feel the joy associated with the arrival of my grand- parents, those renegade drivers behind that VW hippie wheel.