I love spring! I think it is my favorite season because everything is so fresh and so new, and the colors seem so much brighter and the world seems filled with hope! I lived in Breckenridge for several years, and it really was one of the best places to live. But there was no spring, and I missed it so much! I missed the new green leaves on the trees and the Red Bud blossoms and the Dogwoods flowering in the woods. I think my very favorite part of spring is the daffodils!  

I get so excited to see the first daffodils blooming (I think my kids may think I’m nuts because of how excited I get to see them.) If I was to give the daffodils a character quality certificate, I would say BRAVE and HOPEFUL. They are not afraid to bloom even when spring isn’t at its peak. They open up and brave a late frost or a spring snow every year. Often, they are the only pop of color in the extended gray of winter. And they are on forgotten hillsides and unkept ditches. And they are so hopeful because they speak to me that the sun is coming and the days will get longer and warmer regardless of what the weather is doing currently. It is easy for me to find hope and comfort and encouragement from the daffodils every spring. It is easy for me to “see the sermon” in their bravery and hope.

I loved Kamp in the springtime. The honeysuckle on all of the fences lining the roads would bloom, and I could smell it waiting for the bus in the mornings. The forsythia along the road up to my Gran’ma’s house was such a fresh yellow explosion of color. I loved seeing the baby ducks and geese down on the football fields by Taneycomo. I especially loved the tadpoles in the pond at the K-1 boys’ fountain. I loved all of the new life and opportunities that spring gave me as a child whether it was stealing baby geese from their moms to raise them in my bedroom or hatching tadpoles in a mayonnaise jar or heading to the slew to kayak with my best friend, Jason, or a long walk in the woods–spring made me happy and still makes me happy today.  

Spring is like an old friend and spring is like the hope for a great tomorrow. I am so thankful that it is spring again!

Jamie Jo Braner, Director of Alumni Engagement