Personal Victory in the Garden

So after weeks of cold gray weather, today it's sunny and 82 degrees. I joked to a friend that usually on this kind of freaky April day, we have to transplant somebody's rose (and that has happened), but luckily today is Sunday. So, for the first time in months of straining at the bit (I pulled a leg tendon hiking in Guatemala), I actually worked in my own garden! You have no idea what a victory this is...
I hauled away the trellis that had blown over in a windstorm, complete with most of the Akebia vine I can't seem to send to the compost pile. I cut back Hydrangeas, Hellebores, Grasses, Mint and Toad Lilies. I moved aside some leaves, pulled out some of the English Ivy that serves its purpose but needs constant vigilance. I cursed all the contractor's debris from last's year's window installation. I noticed the beginnings of Solomon's Seal (burgundy and phallic) and Canadian Ginger (silvery and crumpled like a small young animal out of a children's story). I smelled the marvelous spicy scent of Geranium macrorrhizum and felt soil that crumbled in the perfect way. I communed with neighbors and strangers and small people on tricycles. I experienced my usual gardener's ambivalence over dog owners (of which I am one), rarely the dogs. I appreciated how the blue of the scilla was offset by the orange of the tulips. I got dirty and delighted at the sun on my face and arms, exposed to the sky here for the first time since last fall.
It is good to be reminded of the joy of gardening. It simultaneously connects me to the planet, my communities, myself and the past/present/future in 4D.