My family is blessed. During non global pandemic years it is our custom to spend the Passover holiday in Israel. Each year, as preparations begin for our international travel, a certain amount of trepidation and anxiety sets in as the days to our departure approach. One never knows what awaits at the airport, the grand intersection of government bureaucracy in the form of the TSA and the American corporate behemoth in the form of the airline industry.

The trip begins and in a flash it’s back to the airport and another journey begins. This second journey, the return home, often leaves me with bittersweet feelings. The heartache that comes from the goodbyes to children and grandchildren, some in uniform, living thousands of miles away, is gently soothed by the warm embrace of my return to a northern NJ spring in full bloom. Pinks, yellows, a thousand different shades of fuschia and above all else—green. Green is here, green is there, green is truly everywhere.

How appropriate that this time of year should be the prime home selling season. Our streets are wearing their finest clothing and the neighborhoods would seem to be inviting us to come and join.

It may seem like mere coincidence that spring is also the busiest sale season of the year. In fact, the school calendar is the driving force behind the timing of the spring market. Families trying to keep school year disruptions to a minimum look to make the big move during the summer months in order to have kids enrolled and settled in their new schools before the focus turns to academics.

That the trees are bursting with leaves and the grass is green and freshly mowed is just sheer good luck and certainly helps close the deal.

So to this perfect timing of nature’s embrace, I say an ode to spring. Welcome back to our homes and let it be a fruitful spring market for all!

Nechama Polak is the broker of record and owner of V and N Group LLC, located at 1401 Palisade Ave in Teaneck. [email protected] 201 826 8809.