Come all ye who are winter weary: Budding trees, baseball beckon spring in Columbia

You know this: No one here is sad to see the end of Columbia’s brief winter.

We did the “cold” thing for a hot minute.

Now bring on the spring.

Bring on the budding trees and baseball games – of the college sort, for now, at least.

Bring on the wash of floral pink and Gamecock garnet. Let the greener leaves and ever-so-slightly longer days wave in the first pitch, first run, first cheer for a brighter season.

We love the way those winter blues give way to warm blue skies that beckon us to the ballpark, the Horseshoe, the riverwalk.

We love to shed our sweatshirts as we slip into hammocks and rock beneath scurrying squirrels and twittering birds, singing their song of spring.

Summer will bear down on us soon enough. Let’s not hurry it along.

Throw on a light jacket and a ball cap and lean back in the grassy outfield berm. Soak up those first long, lazy games on the green diamond.

Let’s savor our spring.