A Brief Truce With Spring
"Springtime for Thomas." Does this sentence sound familiar to anyone?
It's from one of the first episodes of my favourite cartoon that I encountered when I was... five or six, I think? Butch singing is a memory that's kind of just stuck in the back of my head. I won't randomly remember it, but the moment something triggers it, or the episode comes on, I can immediately recite it.
But anyway, it's officially spring here in Australia — one of my favourite seasons. Even though the hay fever can be a real setback, because I always get it pretty bad. But the flowers! The beautiful blooming flowers! The new fashion collections (I love dresses and skirts — spring and fall always have the best collections)! The breeze, the blue sky, and random rainy days. For people who've lived their whole lives in a country with multiple seasons, this might sound "ordinary." But I grew up in a tropical country, so experiencing different seasons in real life is something I'm actually quite romanticising right now.
In my last entry, I sounded so sad, didn't I? Honestly, I still am. But yesterday I went to the park with my boyfriend. A photographer came up to us, saying he'd taken a picture of us because we looked so lovely. He said he'd just started out, trying to build his portfolio. He said if I didn't feel comfortable, he'd delete the pictures in front of me. I said it was fine. It actually made my day. I'd been talking to my boyfriend about how pessimistic I've become. And I hate that. I used to be full of life, grateful for little things. Now, I can't even take a nap without overthinking. But my boyfriend, being the great man he is, tried his best to comfort me.
But that photographer gave me a kind of warmth I hadn't felt in a while. There were a lot of other couples in the park, but the photographer said, "You two look so in love — which is, you know, what spring is supposed to be." Then it hit me. Yes, beautiful spring. The season where Tom is calm, caught in a moment of soft breeze and butterflies. I'm here to witness it, to be part of it. And it's beautiful. Maybe my life isn't perfect — even Tom has to compete against Butch for the whole episode. But he still has fun. Jerry still has fun. You don't always get what you want in life, but you can still be grateful for those brief moments of happiness.