Great Expectations

Posted on by Live & Learn

wind, beach, birds, ocean,

Spring officially begins tomorrow at 11:02 am.  In his novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens said:

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

Charles, you are a wee bit off this morning.

I stepped out the door.  The Earth is covered with a six inch blanket of wet snow. The Wind is gusting up to 20 mph.  It is 28F. I shiver.  And think…

  • Where’s my Sun with a spring kiss of warmth?
  • Where are my cherry blossoms?
  • Where are my bubbling brooks?
  • Where are my budding trees?

WHERE IS MY ALTERNATE REALITY?!

Brad Warner, zen priest, whispers:

“We always imagine that there’s got to be somewhere else better than where we are right now; this is the Great Somewhere Else we all carry around in our heads. We believe Somewhere Else is out there for us if only we could find it. But there’s no Somewhere Else. Everything is right here… Make this your paradise or make this your hell. The choice is entirely yours. Really.”

I wanna be…
Somewhere Else.
Somewhere Else.
Somewhere Else.
Somewhere Else.

Damn Brad.  I’m being tested here.

Really.

Sources: Image – Secret Dreamlife. Dickens Quote: Thank you Carol Welsh – Flowers, Trees And Other Such Gifts of Nature.  Warner Quote: Yogachocolatelove.

54 thoughts on “Great Expectations”

  2. I think it’s hard to define paradise with a temperature of 28 degrees. The good news of course is that I don’t think most people define hell as being untenably cold either. So I’d say you’re in some temporary place which requires you to bundle up before going outside and anticipate spring’s arrival (which is making its presence known in the subtle changes in the trees). When I grow up I want to write like you.

    1. I look forward to anticipate with your comments. I can hear your mind whirring. Darting this direction. Then thataway. And then all tied with a bow. LOVE IT.

  3. Beautiful Dickens quote, and the zen quote is so true. But I like the great Somewhere Else! That’s why I write fiction!

  5. I’m taking up the “I want to be somewhere else” chant up too. As I was driving home from a session end of last week, it was announced on the radio that this time last year, we were at +20 instead of -21. Sigh … spring always comes eventually!

  9. Yep, white here, too and frigid cold with winds you can hear through the windows. Not what I was hoping for the week of spring. Holding on to hope..at least we have sunshine here now!

  12. Dave, your somewhere else is South Florida. Come on down : ) It’s been a glorious past two weeks… A lite rain now, but hey 75 highs and 54 lows… South Florida is calling you back…

  15. Spring on April, hot days, cold mornings. Tipic on México Central. Every cycle, every year.
    Nothing change, only perception and expectations each people.
    Roger

  18. Heaven? Hell? and somewhere else? makes me think -_-
    Its 26°C | °F here at the moment and soon Summers will be here 🙁

    1. Oh Brother. Not sure why you’d like to be somewhere else but I’ll take your word for it. I guess Warner is right (in his quote above)…we’re all looking to be somewhere else.

  21. I’m trying to learn to love the here and now and not keep looking for The Great Someplace Else (or something else). Living in South Florida is helping my training. Come down, David, almost everyone else from NY and Canada are here (and, of course, welcome!)

  23. Spring is cold, warm, cloudy, snow, rain, sun. Damp earth frozen ground new shoots, flowers, frost. Spring embodies all the seasons as all seasons do. Memory reminds us of those ideal Spring days of our youth that only existed because we were thinking of summer. In the Waste Land April is the Cruelest Month (but only there I think):

    “APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
    Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
    Memory and desire, stirring
    Dull roots with spring rain.
    Winter kept us warm, covering 5
    Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
    A little life with dried tubers.”

    T.S Elliot.

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