There is no question about it: May is the busiest, maddest month in my family, and for a lot of families.
Many religious ceremonies such as first holy communion take place in May. Some couples get a head-start and marry in May (or maybe it’s that they waited too long and June was booked). May is also a time for college commencement exercises (and even some high school ones). And in the U.S., May finishes with Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial beginning of summer. But I bet no one is as busy as I am at this time of year.
Over a period of successive days, we have my father’s birthday, then my “kid” cousin’s (he’s about half my age but that puts him behind the wheel), then my wife’s. A few days after that is my eldest’s, then a few days later, my sister’s. And of course, somewhere in the middle comes Mother’s Day. All of this happens in a two-week period. It’s crazy. I should also mention that three of our neighbors are also born in May, including one who shares my daughter’s birthday. One Memorial Day weekend we had a community driveway party and had cake to celebrate all the May People on the block.
This means of course that there is a lot of running around to the Hallmark store at the end of May.
My mom usually helps out with ideas for my dad, stuff he needs. My sister usually has wish lists available on line at places like Amazon.com. My wife is also helpful for herself, and once in a while I still come up with good ideas. I try to find a classy card at this store near Lincoln Center, but since I don’t travel into Manhattan as much it’s not so easy for me to do so. Mother’s Day takes a toll, though – I have to buy for my wife and mom, plus double to them from the girls, though now they are old enough to help me out! It’s still a busy time, even with their help. There’s a lot of planning and coordinating for the kid party, there’s the day out for Mother’s Day, and some years we do try to visit my parents that month. You don’t want to see the credit card bill that comes in!
So if you’re expecting a lot of insight over the next few weeks, get ready to lower your expectations. My brain is about to be frazzled. Anything interesting and pithy will either be a miraculous moment of clarity, or it’s likely something I wrote in April, before May Madness began!