The calendar tells us January is the start of a new year, but our hearts say it really doesn’t happen until the spring.

And spring has arrived. How do we know beyond the budding trees, blooming daffodils, busy birds and buzzing bees that spring is here? Maybe it comes when your neighbor cranks up his mower for the first time, or you finally uncover your boat at the lake.

Maybe you felt it at Newman Park, while watching a Catawba College baseball game, or you’re waiting for the first fireworks night at a Kannapolis Intimidators contest.

Spring might have come for you at this weekend’s Union Grove Fiddlers Convention or the Colonial Spring Frolic at the Old Stone House. It could be spring hit you over the head during an Easter egg drop or pushed you to the ground when a stampede of kids were unleashed at an Easter egg hunt.

To you, spring might be getting ready for this month’s Earth Day Jam or the Hurley Park Spring Celebration.

You could be part of a work detail getting your neighborhood pool set for another season. You might be training for a full schedule of 5k runs — that’s what spring means to you. Or you could have your camera poised for Rowan Public Library’s Spring Photo Walk or your appetite ready for the Boy Scout Oyster Roast.

Around here, spring seems to correspond to Kiwanis pancakes, Meals on Wheels barbecue, Habitat for Humanity chicken and Civitan spaghetti. Spring will welcome a new partner in May when the Rowan County Blues and Jazz Festival returns, and it all leads to another Pops at the Post in June.

Spring also means weeklong spring breaks for students and teachers, sending out invitations to high school and college graduations, spring cleaning our homes and neighborhoods, getting back on the yard sale trail and, sorry to say, filing taxes.

But the good seems to outweigh the bad in spring.

Easter Sunday also reminds us that spring is always a time for sacrifice, reflection, love, hope and new beginnings.

As individuals, we often look inward. As communities, why not do the same and ask, how can we make things better? Spring tells us one thing for sure. We live in a beautiful place — let’s start from there.