Five Seasons, updated

The Tree of Five seasons now has a snazzy plaza, which was dedicated recently. Two admen credited with creating the City of the Five Seasons marketing campaign, Bill Munsell and Gary Anderson, led efforts to raise money for the plaza and for restoring the tree.

Well done.

Of course, any time “Five Seasons” makes a little news, I hear folks wondering, as I once did, what is this mythical fifth season? I happen to have a piece of promotional material from back in the day that provides the original explanation:

“Life is the sum of all the seasons with which it is filled. And if we have time to enjoy the things most important to us, life is rich and full indeed.

“Here, in this place, we have time to live. Time to grow, learn, work and enjoy. Because the important things are only minutes away, we spend our time doing, not going.

“The time of our life is consumed in each passing second. We need time for all the things that constitute a life. And in Cedar Rapids, there is time enough to enjoy the seasons as they pass. Extra time. Precious time.

“A fifth season.”

Very nice. But I think it could use an minor update to better reflect our times:

“Life is the sum of all seasons with which it is filled. And if we have time to enjoy the things most important to us, that is, whenever we're not shoveling or bailing, roasting or raking, chilled to the bone or soaked in sweat, in defiant denial or climatologically doomed, life is rich and full indeed.

“Here, in this place, we have time to live. Time to grow, learn, work and enjoy, as well as tweet, text, update, refresh, like, share, follow, connect, reply, comment, forward, poke, tag, download, follow up and check our feeds. Because the important things are only minutes away, and because we will be looking up from our phones at those very important things in just one second, we swear, we spend our time doing, not going. Unless it's construction season, or if we run into something while texting.

“The time of our life is consumed in each passing second, although we were playing ‘Words with Friends' and didn't notice. We need time for all the things that constitute a life, just as soon as we keep up with the Kardashians, check on Real Housewives in Atlanta, New Jersey, Orange County, etc., share 30 super cute kitten photos, 20 must-read inspirational sayings and 50 Shades of Grey, look to see if anyone commented on our blog, complain that someone commented on our blog and check Facebook, again. Then, there is time to enjoy the seasons as they pass. Extra time. Precious time. Buzzzz. Sorry, we've really gotta take this. It's the office.

“A fifth season ... presented by the iPhone 5.”