I love when spring starts making it’s entrance and the earth looks like it’s waking up after a long winter’s nap.  I start noticing things like new colors popping out and things growing where they were once dull and dead...kind of like when your long-term significant other gets all dressed-up and you see them in a new light all of the sudden ;)

Of course, with spring comes FLOWERS.  In Texas, we’re blessed with lots of gorgeous wildflowers.  Even the weeds can be pretty in spring!  But, before the mother of all Texas wildflowers, the bluebonnet, makes it’s appearance, we have tulips.  Tulips?!  Yes!  Here in north Texas, we have a special little spot called Texas Tulips, a tulip farm with rows and rows of colorful tulips. A family from The Netherlands runs the farm. After 40 years of tulip-growing success back home, they brought their expertise here to Texas.  It’s like having a little taste of Holland in our own backyard.

Spring kind of snuck up on me this year.  Last I checked, it was New Year’s Day.  Now it’s already March.  No one checked with me if I was ready for time to move so quickly.  Change isn’t always easy for me, and sometimes I’m stuck in my own little world, which isn’t always at the same pace as reality.  So, when I felt the burning urge to up and go to the tulip farm on a regular old Tuesday night when there were chores to be done and dinner wasn’t yet made, I knew I needed to Just. Do. It.  My daughter, busy playing with a toy, protested, “How about tomorrow?  Or maybe Thursday?”  “No,” I said.  “The light is perfect, it’s not raining and the weather is changing later this week.  The time is now.”

Thank God, I’ve got adventurous kids.  They understand my impulses that stem from being a photographer related to beautiful light, being at the right place at the right time, capturing moments and all those other crazy photographer-y things.  Since I’m not always an impulsive person and the more grounded of their two parents, they know there must be a darn good reason when I’m feeling spontaneous and want to take a little photography journey, taking them along for the ride. 

On the way, I explained to them how fulfilling it is to look for beauty in the world and to try and catch it with my camera.  It dawned on me while I was driving in autopilot down the country roads that as long as I’m creating, I’m alive.  I shared this epiphany with them.  I’m sure it was one of those Mike Brady-esque talks that they cringed through, but hopefully someday they’ll also learn to listen to their inner voice and take the time to follow the beautiful things that catch their attention instead of letting the daily chores of life run the show.