Every year about this time, I start to crave new scenery. Sometimes I get away, but a lot of times I am stuck in within the dreary, drizzly, muddy days of the long Minnesotan spring.

What do you do when you roll over in the morning, put on your glasses and look out your large bedroom window only to see gray; just endless, foggy gray. Ravens flock against the clouds and bare tree branches jut through here and there. I guess it would be nice to see a little more color…to feel little warmth.

This year I won’t be leaving though, because I don’t have the extra cash and also because I have decided to ruminate in the season’s change. I have some free days to spend wandering around the woods, listening to birds and wading through what’s left of the tired snow. When inside, I will accomplish a bunch of stuff that is just for me.

What is going to be so great about this?

I’m going to clean and reorganize my bedroom and write some poetry about what it feels like to put your world back together piece by piece. Maybe I will take time to lie in the middle of my floor and think about what life is. I’ll catch up with my friends, and make plans for the middle of the day, cause I’m never usually free then. I’d like to take a bunch of black and white film photos and get a new battery for my digital camera so I can catch my companions in color.

It’s going to be fun to do the things I usually have to put off till later. Now is later for the staycationer!

In order to keep things fresh, I plan on taking a side trip to Minneapolis and St. Paul with friends. No matter the distance, it always feels good to get out of town. As I write this, I realize that it is going to be great just sticking around here.

Take a break wherever you find yourself this spring.

Everyone needs one,

regardless if you think buying

a plane ticket to somewhere far away

is a good idea at this point.