Don’t Pass Me By

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• April 21, 2025

I’m unsure if people in other states do this, but as a lifelong New Yorker, I can attest to the fact that almost everyone here thinks Spring used to exist, but doesn’t anymore. The collective mindset of New Yorkers is that there are only three seasons. That New York goes from a long and brutal winter to a painstakingly humid summer. They will tell you that Spring USED to exist for more than three days, and now it lasts less than a week and if you blink, you’ll miss it.

I am here to tell you that all of these people are wrong. So very wrong.

Does Spring go by fast? Yes. It does. But I’d say, like every aging adult says, the years go by faster and faster, even when days drag. I think the main reason New Yorkers don’t think Spring is a fourth of the year is that New Yorkers do not stop to literally smell the flowers. To live in New York is to bend the knee to the fast paced grind of keeping up with merely surviving here. And so, people forget how to slow down their lives. Every Spring, I make a point to go hiking in the mountains, visit gardens, take my nephews and niece to parks. My regular exercise is running outside, and I love to slowly but surely run with less clothes, from a sweatshirt, to a long sleeve shirt, to a t-shirt and finally a sports bra. If you’re not paying attention, it is easy to miss how the trees go from bare bones to lush leaves. So, I’d urge you to pay attention. I’d urge you make time in every season to enjoy what it has to offer. Don’t be one of these people who thinks a whole season doesn’t exist. Spring is giving you bouquets of flowers and you are ignoring mother natures gifts to complain.

The chirping birds outside your window every morning are practically begging you to allow the much needed sunshine to hit your skin. The squirrels, with their nervous ticks and guilty faces, seem to want you to remain busy so they can have the season to themselves. The stores are filled with summer merchandise, always pushing you to forget the present and buy stuff for the future. To those afflicted with allergies (like me), pollen becomes the great enemy of your swollen face, but despite this, the smell of grass is a friendly reminder from Spring, singing the Beatles song, “Don’t Pass Me By” (I don’t see you, does it mean you don’t love me anymore?).

Springtime has long been a symbol for birth or rebirth. It is the young who are masters at present living, so it’s no wonder we think Spring was better or longer or prominent in our youths. But I promise, it’s still there. In fact, it is here right now. Won’t you take a day to breathe it in. Won’t you break the cycle of being one of those people who has forgotten to enjoy something so simple, like life itself, living all around you?