Once again, it is that time of year when the birds and the bees procreate and pollinate, and a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love. Young women break out their SPF 2 suntan oil and their tops and shorts, and hit the streets. What is this phenomenon that we call spring fever? The dictionary defines it as "a listless, lazy feeling felt by some people at the beginning of spring weather" (Webster's 1170). Many doctors would say it is a physical condition brought on by allergies to pollen. Many others would argue that it is a time to find romance and the mate of your dreams. Still others consider it a time of renewal. Spring fever victims come in all ages and walks of life and they know no bounds. In my opinion, spring fever is a reaction to the weather of the mind, body, and soul.
Many people know when spring is in the air by the many telltale physical signs that they experience that come in the forms of itchy, watery eyes, stuffy noses, and torturous fits of sneezing. Many allergists welcome these effects of the new season because it also brings about a rejuvenation in their bank accounts. But the poor sufferers of the hay fever that is borne upon the tiny granules of pollen from innocent-looking perpetrators, also called flowers, know that this is a time of expensive antihistamines and clouds of Kleenex. To them, this is not a time of hearts swelling with emotion, but of heads swelling from the pressure of the fluid build-up in their sinuses. These victims were sentenced to spend most of this otherwise glorious time jailed within the confines of their air-purified houses. Their only cause for celebration comes with the demise of spring and the onset of summer, when they can consign their sinus medications to the medicine chests until the next year.
Air-purifying is not the only cleaning rite that takes place at this time of the year, as the die-hard spring cleaner will tell you. Neighbors gape at the extent that the spring cleaner will go to as they watch furniture, rugs, and other household items being carted out of the house, and onto the front lawn. The cleaner is transformed into a human scouring pad, and no stone is left unturned or unscrubbed. The rewards of all this cleansing and sorting are tangible as well aesthetic, as almost everything that was once lost is now found. This is especially true of the financial gain the cleaner experiences from all of the lost change recovered from sofa and chair cushions. Once this cleaning frenzy subsides, the family is left with an immaculate house, an exhausted grime warrior, and the threat of death to anyone who does not keep things as spotless as they now are. The war on dirt has won the cleaner a well earned rest until the battle is engaged once again the next spring.
Another effect of spring that is physical, as well as emotional, has nothing to do with sinus pain, although for an unfortunate few, some suffering is involved. Who notices flowers blooming and birds singing, when there are members of the opposite sex around? People who are normally serious-minded, responsible adults, suddenly become giddy, love-starved puppies scenting the trail of the perfect mate. Experienced high school teachers and college professors can read the signs of the times by noting the average number of classroom absentees they know to chalk up to the legendary spring fever. They are not immune to it themselves as their husbands or wives suddenly seem to have lost a bit of weight or dropped a few years off their ages. The prospect of spending their time walled up in a classroom, teaching to a bunch of reluctant students is as appealing to them as it is to their pupils. The students who do choose to attend are decked out in many varieties of clothing designed to attract and enthrall any prospective targets. Young women in short shorts and tight tops sport their first quickie, tanning-bed hues of the spring, while men attired in Duck-Head Shorts and Ray-Bans get whiplash from all their double takes. Hearts pound and palms sweat as the timeless mating rituals of spring continue until either fulfillment or heartbreak is achieved. Even if the result is heartbreak, spring fever can bring about a resiliency in a person infected with it that will dull the pain like a natural anesthetic and launch them, unabated, in search of other prey.
Quite the opposite of the dictionary definition of listless and lazy, when under the spell of spring fever, you can become an energetic and relentless hunter when searching for the perfect mate. You know no bounds and will employ any number of methods to attain your goal. The friend who is acquainted with your future true love can be recruited to act as go-between. If the person is in a class you're taking, you can maneuver your way onto their project or study group. If you work for the same company as your dreamboat, you can hang around the coffee pot every morning until he or she shows up for that morning octane. It is then that you can slay them with your wit and impress them with your knowledge of life and the world. In your state of fevered dementia, you are confident that they don't stand a chance against your charming assault. Spring fever strikes again!
Victims of the fever are not necessarily relegated to any certain age group. Children as young as nine or ten are bitten by the love bug as easily as adults. Their methods are in the learning stages, as though they are going through a dry run of the ritual in which they are to participate in the future. Many a mother, upon going through pants pockets prior to laundering them, has come upon her child's juvenile love notes. These first, halting overtures of never ending love are written in a variety of neon ink colors and decorated with hearts and initials as a stamp of their ardor. Parents also notice an increase in the amount of time their little Romeos (or Juliets) spend giggling on the phone, with an equal amount of giggling filtering through the other end. Hands, arms, and even sneakers are employed as moving billboards proclaiming their love for and possession of each other for all the world to see. Before long, these love trainees will join the ranks of their adult counterparts in the mature quest for spring fever fulfillment.
Many people enjoy the resurgence of spring as a time to plant new gardens. Especially the elderly find themselves re- energized when spring fever prompts them to venture outdoors. Out come the gardening hats, gloves, and implements that are used to coax new life and beauty from the earth. The blanket of spring warmth seems to cure the aches and pains of winter for older people. One can find them on their otherwise aching knees, digging their gnarled hands into the rich brown soil as they lovingly bring their hibernating gardens back to life again. These older people may not be able to participate in the same spring fever rites that they did in their younger days, but they have not given up on life. The truth of this is seen in the beauty they plant all around them.
Many scholars and poets attribute the rites recurring year after year to this condition we call spring fever. Certainly there is truth to the idea that it affects us all in some way or another. The animals in nature instinctively know that this is the time for love and procreation. Even the plants come forth to celebrate the time of their rejuvenation, so why not we humans? We seem to know it as instinctively as they do, whether we, as the superior species, like to admit it or not. Perhaps, the condition has something to do with the renewal we see all around us. Winter seems to be a time of putting things on hold, of cold and death. The warmer temperatures of spring and the return of life is a signal to all living things since the beginning of time to start over again and to continue the cycle of life. From young children to old folks, in mind, body, and soul, the fever gets to us all.
Work Cited
"Spring Fever." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1973.