My Restlessness

      As Spring draws closer my restlessness becomes incessant and heightened.  I enjoy the winter up through the New Year and then I feel the urgency to get outside.  January and February are the most uncomfortable for me.  These are the two months that are generally cold and spent planning for warmer weather.
      All the romantic notions associated with camping, I find myself daydreaming of during these months.  I think about camping in vibrant neon green forests, life renewed, refreshed after the long cold winter.  I see myself siting by a camp fire in a field where at dusk, fireflies began to waft gently towards the lumbering leaf clusters above.  Embers glowing hot and red like tiny suns sublimely settled in a bed of gray.  I hear the laughter of the children in the tent and glance towards the stars.  I am reminded of how all of God's creations are wonderful and unending.  I am lying in the tent listening to the complex chorus of night.  My body feels heavy, I smell the sweet aroma of the camp fire dying down just as my mind does the same.
       My restlessness still builds through March but at least with warmer days I can assuage it with short adventures locally.  March is spent visiting local parks where the children play and the sun gently tests warmer rays.  I often search out rivers and lakes.  I have increased interest in water.  I cast gently out into the river bend.  A large fish silhouette approaches the site where my bait dangles.  A quick nibble and then my pole is bent.  I wrestle with the 2 pound cat fish like I'm reeling in a man-eating Alligator Gar.
    By the time April arrives the worst is over.  The restlessness breaks way as warmer temperatures become the norm.  I go hiking through the forest with neon green in full show.  The creeks and rivers look inviting with the chill of winter now in the past.  I find the perfect campsite, off the trail, beside a small stream.  The ground is still moist from a rain the previous night.  Perhaps I will be lucky enough to be lulled asleep by a gentle nocturnal rain shower.  The campfire provides a beautiful glow and billows the new leaves in the warm night air.
        May brings the relief I have been looking for. Warmer days have become the norm and the forbidden pleasure of swimming is no longer taboo.  I walk down the sidewalk littered with pollen from the pine trees.  Today the pool has opened  and swimming is on the menu.  The restlessness is now an entire season away.  My body feels more alive and I feel carefree.