Is it spring yet?

Temperatures are climbing, the crocuses are popping up and I've noticed that the shoots that will eventually become daffodils are beginning to show green in what suffices for my back yard, which isn't much, as most of it is devoted to parking. I've had my windows open to air out my stuffy apartment and it feels good to breathe real air again and to see the sun and feel its warmth on my face. I honestly hope that winter is now past for good and that I can begin to think about putting away the winter boots, hats, mittens and other accoutrements of the season. I'm weary beyond belief of snow, ice and cold and want more than anything for spring to be here for good. Right now, it sure looks that way. I really hate driving in the snow and cold and worrying about the people in the other cars not driving appropriately for the weather. Nothing makes me more nervous than to be driving in winter weather behind or in front of a car sporting Florida plates. I don't know if this is a native Ohio snowbird who has retired to the Sunshine State or someone who merely has a winter home there and comes back north to do some skiing up here or whether it's a Florida native come north for some winter sports who may not have had any kind of winter driving training.....or what. All I know is that you know a hard core native Northerner by the way they drive in the winter. They know to slow down and drive extra carefully when weather conditions warrant it.

FEAR OF FALLING

One of the reasons that I welcome spring so much is that as I grow older, I become more afraid of falling. I find that now that I am just a bit older than I used to be, I sustain more serious damage to my body when this happens than occured when I was younger. This was part of my motivation for beginning to workout, because I figured that the stronger I got, the less badly I would get hurt should a fall occur. After two rounds of PT on my left knee in the past year and a half, both injuries caused by falls, and a round of PT on my left elbow (more than likely work related, but possibly also aggravated by a fall in my basement early one morning in the pre-dawn hours), I decided that it might just be in my best interest to get stronger so that should there be a next time for a bad fall, I had a better chance of not being as badly injured and thus not laid up for weeks or months. With my medical insurance paying for less and less and more of my actual health care costs coming out of my own pocket, it's in my best interest both physically and financially to stay as healthy as possible. Until and unless we get true universal health care in this country (not likely to happen in my lifetime, sadly), I will have to do more on my own to ensure my health, take care of myself and spend less time in doctor's offices trying to pay for health care that I can no longer afford. So, welcome spring, if, indeed, it's truly here at last for good. May we have seen the last of the bitter cold and winter snows and more of the bright sun and blooming flowers! This is by far my favorite time of year, and one I regularly rejoice in upon its arrival.