"​Win‑Ing (Winter–Spring)"

Half-winter, half-blossom — the river knows the truth.

Right now, outside, winter lingers, even as the calendar insists it’s spring. Our bodies are ready for short pants and tank tops, for picnics and cookouts, for lazy days by the river with a breeze soft enough to make you close your eyes. You can almost smell the blossoms, hear the river’s steady hush. Under the gazebo, a few of us drink too much beer. That’s spring after the half‑winter, half‑spring effect has finally passed — a season I now call Wining, where both worlds overlap.

The first word I heard this morning came through WhatsApp. It was the first word I read, and in my mind I heard it in his voice — Really… — a reply to last night’s conversation. For him, it was still yesterday; twelve hours can stretch a day into two different worlds.

The second words I heard today were, "Good morning sir," from a young lad heading off to school. "It’s a very cold day, isn’t it?" he said. "Yes," I replied. I wondered if he felt as cold as I did, both of us shivering with our hoodies pulled over our heads. "It is that."

Down by the river, the air cut sharp and cold — the kind of morning that could fool you into thinking winter still has the upper hand, if not for the blossoms clinging to the trees and the tail end of cherry blossom season, with only a few petals left.

Welcome to a new week — a time to begin again, or simply continue from where we left off.