The Grandeur of Gorillas in the Spring

Happy Spring!?Just out my window, the daffodils and the forsythia are popping up, peppering the?park with?bright white and yellow warm-weather happiness. This ephemeral, post equinox display made me think about being privileged?enough to recently see the Susa gorilla family in the?wild, a bucket list adventure that blew the lid off of anything that I could have possibly imagined. Watching them frolic with their young amongst the bramble of bamboo in the Rwanda wilderness, they seemed so human to me that it was no surprise to learn that they share about 98% of our DNA.

After spending time with the gorillas in their rarefied habitat as striking golden monkeys scampered over a nearby river, and viewing swinging chimpanzees living out their lives on an island in the next door country of Uganda, I'm truly inspired to renew my appreciation of the natural world.

As many parts of the globe celebrate the renewal that the new season brings, the nascent blooms and the peaceful gorillas are just two of the innumerable reasons why we should be grateful for the intrinsic grandeur that surrounds us both in far-flung locales and closer to home. So take a break to meander among the sun-speckled floral splendor this time of year and admire the fleetingness of seasonal displays. Then, hold that treasure near. It might be the very thing that helps you realize that very stressful work days are merely transient and they too will indeed pass.