Have you seen them?

The signs of spring are popping up everywhere in Vicksburg.

On Monday I noticed birds flying all around, and the spirea bush in my back yard has started pushing out leaves.

It’s just crazy.

Last week when the temperatures dipped into the teens, I was questioning whether or not the shrub was dead or alive.

It was so cold and bleak outside, and then just like that, everything seems to be greening and blooming.

Along Porter’s Chapel Road there were clumps of jonquils in my neighbor’s yard, and on Cherry Street the tulip trees were in full bloom.

Seasons.

In Mississippi, where we don’t experience as drastic of a change in weather as do other parts of the country, a warm southerly breeze that blows in in February can be delightful as well as that first nip in the air as fall approaches.

For me, there is something therapeutic about the change of seasons.

Life can get a little catawampus at time, no matter how unpredictable, seasons remain.

And if someone were to ask which is my favorite, I could not answer.

Each one in its own way brings about something different.

While summer in Mississippi can become awfully hot, it does allow me to enjoy a dip in the pool and of course as a child, it is the season when you get a break from school.

Winter is mild in our parts, and you can probably count on one hand the days we really have to bundle up, and if we are ever fortunate enough to get snow, even as an adult, who can’t help but smile.

Fall is a reprieve from the heat, so it is always welcome.

It is also the time of year when leaves began to turn vibrant colors, especially those on Japanese maple and Gingko trees.

And then there is spring, the season of new life.

Nope, it’s official. There is not one season that I prefer over the other.

Each one is unique and special in its own way, and picking a favorite just negates the value of the other three.

I am not sure why, but for me there is something cathartic with the change of seasons, maybe its like the passage in Ecclesiastes explains, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Have you seen them?

Terri Cowart Frazier is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.