May

It's May! It's May.

May is many things to me. May is surely an improvement over the past five or so months in Boston. The sun is brilliant today,--a reminder that warmer days are coming soon. I should have worn sunglasses, but the sun felt hot and perfectly melting on my face. May is happy and bright, sunny, springy, and full of life. Birds are chirping! May is the month when the tulips come out in Columbus Park, two blocks from our house, and the month when the flip-flops show signs of life, too. May is when the restaurants open up their front windows. May is green and new. May is a deep inhale of fresh air.

But unfortunately for me May is always a reminder of the dreariest May four years ago, an entire month with not a bright spot to show for it, not even the sun outside. May is sad for me. May is all out of whack in every possible way.

May is the time when I start a new exercise routine; I go shopping to spruce up my wardrobe; I bake my worries away; I sink deeply into Scripture; I cry for no reason.

May is so in need of an uplifting distraction that it is the perfect time each year to start gearing up to raise money for our August bike ride for cancer. (I tried to edit this and everything erased, bummer.) We are riding in memory of my dad, who died four years ago this May, and in memory and honor of everyone we know who has suffered from this disease. We are riding for Paul's mom, and my step-mom, and all our friends who have loved ones with cancer.

This year I'm putting my May to good use.