April Showers
Wendy Burk, CEO and Founder
Vincent Van Gogh would have turned 167 this week, on March 30. His famous painting, “Rain” was painted in the fall of 1889 while Van Gogh was in the hospital at the Asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, a former monastery at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. You could say that in this moment of Van Gogh’s life, he was quarantined – away from his family and friends and unable to move about beyond the grounds of the hospital. Yet during this time, he painted extensively and produced some of his most lucid and well-known works.
I was lucky enough to stand in front of this painting last October at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I had spent a few days connecting with our amazing clients and colleagues during our annual Cadence Connects client event. I also attended a wonderful trade show hosted by Philadelphia-based Aspire Travel Advisors, Robin and Fred Robbins. Robin took me to the museum and we marveled at the works there, this painting especially. It was a very special moment in time for me, with very special people.
Growing up in Detroit, I’m no stranger to the gray gloom of early spring. I know the seasons. I know rain. Today, on the first of April, I’m thinking of what everyone on the east coast typically says at this time of year. “April showers bring May flowers.” In southern California, we can get a little complacent. It’s always nice here. But in places like Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia, the rain of April is a welcome sign. It means new life. The rain feeds the earth and gives birth to the beauty of Spring. It’s the transition from one season to the next, ushering forth renewal and regrowth.
Today, the entire world is experiencing April showers. The showers are washing away months and months of our hard work, rinsing our slates clean again, erasing memories of better times. This is very sad indeed. In this way, the tears we have all shed are also part of the April showers.
But we can see it the other way, we can look for the flowers that are soon to come. The beauty of changing seasons is the washing away of complacency. We get to look ahead and understand that the cycle of life is necessary. The rain feeds the barren ground, the sun provides warmth, and life begins again. And so will we, because we are all a part of this same wondrous cycle.
Stay positive. Remember the flowers that will bloom out of all of this rain. The world will awaken again and we’ll be back on the road, ready to explore all of its wonders. The lure of travel is a seedling that needs to be fed. Take care of your clients, nurture their love of travel like a growing flower that needs the warmth of the sun and the cool of the rain to grow. If we take the time today to give back to them in this regard, we’ll begin to see the flowers grow again in no time at all.
-Wendy