A Toast to Daylight

March 13, 2012, Washington, DC: We made it. We can stop racing daylight. Our evenings are suddenly brighter and so is our outlook. Our days are getting longer now, full of extended possibility. This is one of my favorite weeks of the year, especially here in Washington. In Washington, daylight doesn't just bring the promise of a new season; it brings an immediate explosion of springtime. Sometimes we jump straight into summer.

Warmth, sun and daylight have exploded here since Sunday -- over bursting blooms and sandy volleyball courts and the steps between the Lincoln Memorial and the Potomac River. We have time to savor it now. We don't have to rush. Beginning now, these light-filled evenings are ours again. To pedal home from Farragut Square like I did this evening among throngs of business women wearing flats and toting purses strapped to their bikes. To sit outside like we did Sunday evening at Belga Cafe on the sunny side of 8th Street.

Now is the time to celebrate this place in this light. Now is the time to celebrate our radiant surroundings.