It’s a beautiful day as I sit in my car, waiting for the light to change so I can pull onto the George Washington Parkway. When I put down the windows is when I can suddenly smell it; the real scents of spring.

It’s mostly the Potomac River that I’m about to drive by that’s wafting into the car. It smells of green, and sediment, and strangely (and impossibly) of the ocean. Breathing deeply, as I slowly pull onto the road itself, I have to resist the urge to close my eyes for even a second to really savor its aroma. On the river itself, near Key Bridge, I can see scores of crew teams rowing their boats in perfect, even strokes. The sun is shining off of the shirtless men’s backs as they lean in unison, perfection from where I’m driving.

I finally stop the car on an overlook and gaze down for a minute, taking in the sights. My favorite e.e. cummings poem keeps leaping to mind, with one verse in particular. “i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth.” And that’s what it really feels like. After the grey skies and damp chills of yesterday morning, the world has come to life all around me this morning.

I gaze down on the fishing boats that have populated the portion of the river I’m now looking at, and I’m envious of the chance to truly enjoy the beauty of this morning. Instead I settle for rolling the windows down further and breathing deeply as I can. It’s a beautiful day, and the start to a truly beautiful season.

Some mornings you truly understand what a true gift, a real blessing it is to be alive and around the rest of the world. Those are really the best mornings of all.