our first day of spring

to celebrate a day together, a high above 50 degrees, and sunshine, we decided to have a picnic. normally we'd pull our bikes out and head to the water, but it still felt just a bit too chilly outside to be biking - nonetheless to the lake. we headed to gene's sausage shop, a high-end grocery store in lincoln square, to pick up some fixins for a charcuterie board: salami, smoked pork butt, smoked mozzarella, two types of fancy crackers, potato chips, and some pears. we packed up a blanket, our current favorite self-development reads, and cameras, and set off. there is a sweet little park with a trail that runs along the river that is about a 15 minute walk from our house, and that's where we decided to head. we set up camp in a sunny spot amid some trees, and basked in the glory of our first outdoor eating adventure of the season.

celebratory spring picnics are somewhat of a loose tradition for us. our first spring picnic was almost exactly four years ago, on april 20th 2014. alex had a cinematography class that semester in which he and three friends spent the entire time shooting specific types of scenes. they all had to make the same type of thing, but each person had to shoot and edit his/her own sequence. alex and his three friends formed a little squad, and basically spent every single weekend that semester out shooting projects. alex volunteered me to act in his chase scene, so we spent the day working on his project with his friends. halfway through the day, and to say thank you to everyone for helping out, we quickly scampered off to a nearby grocery store and picked up a baguette, some salami, cheese, grapes, and a few bottles of sangria. we enjoyed our snack on a hill next to the el tracks where we were shooting, and after we wrapped we went and got ice cream.

almost exactly two years after this picnic, on april 17, 2016, we enjoyed yet another impromptu charcuterie picnic. this time, it was when alex was teaching me how to ride a bike in the city. i rented one from a divvy station near our apartment, and we rode down the lakeshore bike path from montrose beach to fullerton beach. i remember how terrified i was - i hadn't ridden a bike since i was a child, and here i was trying to ride a city bike on a crowded path packed with people (aka potential targets). from that day forward, despite the fact that i spent the whole time feeling a combination of fear and exhilaration, i was determined to get my own bike and ride it in the city all summer long. that summer i got my mom's bike from my parents' house, and have spent every summer since biking everywhere i can: to the beach, to work, and to any adventure that we feel like having. learning to ride a bike is honestly one of my biggest accomplishments - i absolutely love it.

while our picnic yesterday may not have necessarily celebrated any big personal milestones, it was - as it's always been - an acknowledgement that eventually, at some point, the temperatures will rise above 60 degrees. it will get hot, the sun will beat down, and summer will be in full swing. it hasn't been feeling at all lately like that shift is actually coming. not only has it been cold, but we've definitely been feeling a little down lately ourselves. so yesterday, after stuffing our bellies, we laid back and let the sun beat down on us: the lightness and brightness we felt outside permeated into our spirits. we felt the sun warm our bodies and faces, even as the slightly chilled breeze swirled around us. it was this juxtaposition that reminded us to take transition in stride, appreciate what you love, and don't take the other stuff too seriously - as ultimately, we are almost always in transition no matter what. seasons are neither one nor the other - they are constantly fluctuating and moving, cycling and continuing. so maybe for us, then, it's not always about the accomplishments. sometimes it's about persevering through the challenges, and acknowledging when we've reached a season of ease. when it's okay to push and when to let go & surrender to the forces. the surrender has been particularly hard lately, as we've been feeling like there's always more we can do, like we can push harder. but maybe that's the opposite of what we need to do - and laying in the sun certainly was a good reminder of that.