First Day of Spring Means More Than the Promise of Italian Ice

It comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, they say.

But for me at least, the end of March and the coming of spring is something to let out a lion's roar about, in celebration.

Today is the first day of spring, the first spring after so much devastation and pain from Hurricane Sandy.

And for the Jersey Shore, the first day of spring is not simply a day for though that is very nice. It's not just a day to see the green of coming daffodils, though the sight of them is enough to draw a relieved smile.

Many seasonal businesses mark the first day of spring as reason to open, to shed off the cover of winter, the plywood of an off-season. A reason for many others to put out an "Open Soon" sign, for those that mark April 1 or May 1 as a traditional day of re-opening...dates that seem closer than ever before on the first day of spring.

These Open Signs spring up one day, just like buds of hyacinths and tulips do, a sign of rebirth for the Jersey Shore each year. A sign of spring.

The winter the Jersey Shore has to emerge from this year is so much more painful than any other winter. The sting of the cold ocean wind in the winter, the hard earth with its gray grass, these things inevitably give way to sunshine and green — this happens every spring, but this is more than just every spring.

The rebirth of spring takes so much more strength this year. It's not simply putting up an open sign now. It's cleaning up feet of sand, ripping down flood-soaked drywall, it's replacing dining tables and chairs for the return of shore restaurant patrons.

It's power washers, front loaders, impact hammers, pile drivers: these are the sounds of spring this year, as the Jersey Shore has its eye on the other big reopening milestone: Memorial Day.

This is the lion of March, this first day of spring. The roar of construction mixed in with the chirp of chicadees and cardinals and the caw of seagulls.

That spring rebirth takes so much work now, but the lion's roar of celebration will be behind it. Inevitable, the Jersey Shore rebirth. Happy first day of spring, Jersey Shore.