So this is a season

It’s hard to believe that I arrived in Berlin more than six months ago.

When Barrett picked me up from the airport in November, the winter’s first snow was fresh on the ground, the sky was a milky cold gray and the sun was tucked away by 4 p.m.

When we moved into our apartment in Prenzlauer Berg in January, white coated the streets and outlined the black branches of slumbering trees. Everything was slow and silent and calm. Any sounds ricocheted off the cold, stark air with an echo. The little world was in deep freeze, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the spring thaw would reveal.

The change was both immediate and gradual. And so far the seasonal swap has brought bright, pink blossoms that floated and flitted in the air, cafes whose patrons spill onto cobblestone sidewalks, great trees whose green leaves seemed to unfurl overnight, sunbathers in the parks, and my favorite, the song birds.

It has been magic to watch this transformation occur — and having lived in temperate climates my entire life, this transition from winter to spring (and now to summer) has been a delicious first.