Tornado Warning

Every year I know May is going to 

be a tornado.

I love everything about this month except that part.

I love that school is almost over,

 that feeling of summer anticipation in the air,

going to the little white greenhouse tents to pick out potting flowers, graduation parties and the like.

What I don't love is that it always feels so frenzied.

And for some reason, this year, in the Midwest,

it has been going on since the end of March.

Maybe because of our early spring we all got ahead of ourselves

and instituted the frantic pace unconsciously.

It is about this time that I am longing for sleepy, lazy, summer mornings and relaxed evenings on the deck.

When getting dinner on the table sometime between 6pm and midnight is a perfectly acceptable goal,

and everyone falls into bed at the end of the daywhen they get around to it.

poolside reading, vacation, whatever.

I love those days...

 I wish May came with a watch and warning system

like real tornadoes do.

"It is May 1st. Possibilities of  over-booking, social overload, inability to say no and over-extension for the general population. Stay tuned for warnings and seek shelter in a bathroom or interior room or closet  where no one can find you, should severe activity overload occur...take wine"

With this constant buzz of activity,

I seem to invite an unfriendly visitor...anxiety.

Not sure why. 

Maybe it is that I am always certain I am forgetting something

because there is a LOT to forget this month.

Maybe it is that I know that I am going to have to figure out what to do with my children all summer.

(don't get me wrong...I love having summers with them!)

And I know it will fly by too fast, 

but in the middle of it I won't be able to wait for it to end

and for these kids to have some routine again!

I practice yoga (often), and I meditate (not often enough)

and it helps. It helps a lot.

However, even implementing these wonderful de-stressors

into my routine can cause me a little angst.

I feel guilty for taking the time I could be doing something else.

Even when I try to quiet my mind, tasks pop into my brain 

in rapid succession. 

It seems the only time I seem to "remember" everything I am supposed to be doing, is when I am attempting to empty my mind of all thought.

A frustrating paradox.

And so, a decent blogger would have great words of life-changing wisdom to expel, and after reading this, 

you would undoubtedly feel gratifyingly peaceful and serene.

The rest of this month, and every May hereafter, you would 

float through with detached ease.

Unfortunately for you, you have read the wrong blog.

I'm still looking for the magic.

Until I find it, I will keep on keeping on

with the rest of you.

By the end of the month we all have the same dazed and confused look on our faces,

only to be wiped clean by the look of sheer annoyance

that will appear as soon as these darling  children are out of school for half a day and start whining

that there is nothing to do.

Enjoy!