There are certain magical moments we get to experience just once each year. 

What makes them so special isn’t just the brief time we’re afforded but the fact that you won’t find them on any calendar. Instead, they pop up out of nowhere to delight us with their sweetness. 

Take the arrival of that very first “roll down the windows, turn up the volume, and feel the wind on your face” day each spring. There will be other days when we’ll drive along, singing at the tops of our lungs while the fresh air fills the car, but none will feel quite like that first time, none so filled with the promise of sunny days to come. 

This is the time each year when some of the sweetest moments arrive in Sullivan County, but in between grocery shopping and stopping at the pharmacy, driving to work and making dinner, they’re easy enough to miss if you don’t take the time to look for them. 

I can’t tell you when they’re coming, but I can promise you these are some of the moments most worth savoring: 

The first time you spot the bright green daffodil or crocus shoots poking out of the garden dirt 

That first day you step outside and realize you can turn around and hang your heavy winter parka back on the hook beside the door

The first morning you climb into the car and don’t turn on the defroster or the heat

That day you pull out the clothes stowed away in the fall and go digging for that pair of shorts

The first time you hear birds twittering on the branches while you’re climbing into your car

The first Sunday you sit down to watch the baseball game on the couch with the windows propped open behind you 

The first Saturday you head to the lawn and garden store 

That first weekend when you spend nearly every moment outside in the sunshine

The first time you fire up the grill for dinner in the backyard

That weekend you spend decluttering everything that’s piled up over the winter

The first night you go to bed with the sound of the peepers outside your window

The first time you’re tempted to pull off your socks and shoes and stick your toes in the creek or river

Who’s ready?