12 Things I Hate About Spring – The Pennington Point

Spring. It’s so gorgeous with all of the baby lambs and wildflowers along the highways. But there are some things I dread every year when the spring starts to….well….spring. It isn’t all chicks and rainbows. There are some annoyances about the season that really get me.

To buy flowers or not to buy flowers. The annual decision about whether or not to spend $75+ on flowers for the porch. Yes, they’re beautiful and we do all enjoy them. OK, so they cheer me up when I go in and out the front door. But I am a plant killer. It’s in my genetic makeup. These plants that I so lovingly choose at the nursery and repot in my adorable old milk cans will die within 6 weeks and it always makes me feel like I have wasted my hard earned money.
Closet rearranging. The warmer weather means putting away the sweaters and digging out my lightweight tops and skirts. I have to get the step ladder, take it in my closet to reach the shelves where I keep the out of season clothes. The whole changeover is wrought with stress. Do I keep any cold weather clothes out? Will I need at least one sweater? Then there’s the discovery that my summerish clothing really shouldn’t have been saved at all because it’s all raggedy and stained. The step ladder stays in my closet, in the way of everything, just in case I need something from that top shelf later on. It’s a pain.
Daylight Savings Time. Need I say more?
White sandals. Once again I begin my eternal search for the perfect white sandal. It eludes me. I have spent the past 7 years stopping in every shoe store, looking through their shoes and hoping to find that white sandal that will give my foot the support it needs while still looking carefree and cute. And even if I find them, they won’t last more than a year. After that they go into the “shouldn’t have been saved” category just like my clothes in the top of the closet.
It’s too late to lose as much weight as I wanted before summer. I try at the beginning of January. I feel like I have so much time before I have to stop wearing layers and covering up those holiday pounds. Then all of a sudden…bam! The season is right here and I don’t have enough time to get it all off. Bummer.
Pollen. It’s all over my car, it’s all over the street, it’s on my clothing if I stay outside more than an hour. Those gorgeous flowers and blooming trees everywhere come at a cost.
The heat. I am a cool weather person, which is probably why fall is my favorite season. I love chilly weather and crisp evenings, wrapping up in a blanky, making fires and drinking hot tea. Spring is the reminder that I am about to spend 6 months fanning myself and sweating.
Bunny resistance. Every year I fight the urge to buy a baby bunny at the feed store. I know we don’t need it and it will die and we will all be broken hearted, but I want it. They’re so cute!
Bugs. They are every.where. Mostly the front of my car. I spend half my weekend scraping them off my hood, only to have them cover it before the next weekend. It’s icky.
Endless mowing. I love a freshly mowed yard, but we mow over an acre and it’s a big job, especially considering I am extremely lazy. I do have sons and they do some of the mowing. But they’re busy with their own jobs and school and activities and I feel mom-guilt asking them to keep the grass short in the spring since that requires mowing 24/7. We would have to mow every 2 days to keep it looking nice, which you might say, “Who cares….you’re in the country…let it go!” That would be great except then we would have to wade through a jungle just to get to the bug covered car.
Deadly stickers. Have you heard of goathead stickers? Also known as Puncturevine, Texas sandbur, bull’s head and devil’s-thorn. Whatever you call them, if you step on one in the carpet you will be saying words your mama would blush over. They have such long, firm burs that they can go all the way through your foot into the bone. I have so many bruises on the bottoms of my feet by the end of summer from pulling these suckers out of my soles that I look like I have some kind of disease. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it. Then you’ll want to send me a sympathy card.
The constant urge to clean. All year long the little messes and undone jobs don’t bother me much. But in the spring they nag at my thoughts until I have no other choice but to halt my life and deal with them. Everything stops and I tackle the junk drawers and broken toys like my life depends on it. It’s not called spring fever for nuthin’.

All in all I guess the beautiful skies and gorgeous flowers are worth all of the woes of the season. The newness is nice after the cold, brown winter. Being able to see the stars at night and feeling the breeze through my hair is pleasant. I’m just rolling with the problems, bracing myself for the inevitable foot bruising and bug cleaning that will come. In everything, there is a season.