A lways ready to put another winter behind me, my eye read the flamingo-pink bloom in the median as an early sign of spring. Can the lavender jacaranda tree blossoms and brilliant golden rain trees be far behind? Or, my personal favorite surefire signs of spring: The Miami Boat Show, the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and cases of Samoan Girl Scout cookies? Give me a box of Thin Mints and a Camelbak topped with margarita-flavored Gatorade for hands-free hydration, and I am good to go through acres of soon-to-be-arriving acres of baitfish.

We are not out of the woods yet this winter. Still, I am mindful of another turn of the seasons in my life, signified by a little barbecue, a Super Bowl, a little guacamole and a cold PBR. And maybe it was my second PBR or maybe it was a little mesquite smoke in my eyes, but I got a little teary during the pre-game version of America the Beautiful and the straight-up national anthem. No, it wasn’t just the songs that inspired. It was the troops, the pre-game remote video of Camp Leatherneck Marines shoulder to shoulder to catch a glimpse of home. As I paddled beneath the full moon during a light drizzle the night before I wrote this, I couldn’t stop thinking about them and the freedom we are blessed to enjoy from the seats of our stealthy little crafts.