More of a slinky

By calendar accounts, spring has arrived–the weather outside, however, tells a different tale.  The hills remain whitewashed, the wind whips, and the rain falls.  With all the sadness whirling about, it seems as if the clouds themselves are crying.  I wouldn’t at all be surprised.

But here’s the thing about spring–sometimes it bounds in, other times it’s more of an amble.  There are times, you see, when spring comes in more like a Slinky.

You know, the slinky was developed by a Naval engineer, quite by accident.  It was 1943–the middle of WWII–at the William Cramp and Sons shipyards in Philly.  Richard James was working on a spring that could support sensitive ship instruments, even in rough waters, when he knocked one off a shelf.  For the interference, he could have simply uttered profanities and moved on.  Instead, he noticed how the spring meandered its way down before righting itself on the ground.  He realized with a bit of tweaking, he could “make it walk.”

And so it was, the Slinky was born.  It was named to be sleek and graceful–though many took to calling it a Lazy Spring. It was made to be inexpensive, so everyone might ave the chance to play. It’s been used in Science classrooms, in physics experiments with NASA, and in wartime as radio antennas.  Lazy?  Why, it’s nothing of the sort.

Just different.

Much like life, non?

Out of wartime work, comes play.  Out of sadness, comes joy.  Out of winter, comes spring.  It’s not always as we had hoped.  It’s not all laughter and sunshine … but they are sure to come back around.

So here’s to you, and a season of new beginnings …