Looking Ahead

As the air warms, there is always a feeling of an opening in the chest, of releasing the space between the ribs as the body ceases to protect the vital warmth of the core, clenching the stomach, hunching over against the wind.  This spring has an additional unfettering from the coming year in which so many opportunities, seen and unseen await me.  There is a further loosening than usual, seeing Japan not as a foreigner trying to make a life, but as an America temporary residing here.  After this I will step foot somewhere new and have a new sense of self having put away so much of it for such a long time.  Opening, opening into a new spring.