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A Boomer’s Journal

By Tom Anselm

So today we find ourselves at the start of The Merry Merry Month of May.  Good old  writer Stephen Foster came up with this one, and his poem speaks of frolicking in the fields amongst the flowers and fauna, of the general joy that spring can bring in the form of celebration.

There are gobs of decidedly joyful events in May,  like Mother’s Day, plant sales, Spring Boutiques, Valley of Flowers and other  festivals and church picnics.  Add to that First Communions, graduations and end-of-the-school-year field days and outings.

You know, having worked in schools  most of my adult life, my biological clock was set to semesters.  The first one was spent getting things started, settling in, working the plans of my students.

The second was adapting those plans, dealing with the inevitable bumps in the road of each kids lives, and then, honestly, praying for the end to come and the strength to hang on until May.  So May has always been a time to sing, like Mary Tyler Moore, “you’re gonna make it after all.”

May brings smiles in other cultures as well. It’s onset is celebrated in England, China, Germany, the Ukraine.  And speaking of Ukraine, it is even such a joyful month that the usually dour Russians will take a day off from creating havoc in Eastern Europe to celebrate May Day. Oh, yeah, their’s is commemorated with parades of tanks, marching troops and rockets, but hey, we all have our traditions, right?

Our family’s May has been a busy one these past 11 years, with three grandkid’s birthdays.  This time around it is even crazier, adding a graduation, a First Communion and a bidding ‘adieu’ to said grad as she starts her odyssey west.  (More to come on that saga  in a future installment.)

May also continues April’s  burgeoning of all plant life. This is both good and bad.  For some reason, apparently due to the severe winter we just survived, The Great Pollinators  are wreaking giant havoc on my sinus cavities, with  the usual itchy eyes and runny nose joined by drainage such that the Mississippi Valley has not seen in years.

Every morning, it’s like I am hacking up a spleen (wait, we only get one, right?), with the corresponding sounds that make the lovely Jill want to run for the hills. Or make me take it all outside, for crying out loud.  (I hope you’re not eating right now.)  Anyway, I am a big baby about taking anything for this condition, maybe because every day there is a commercial with a  warning about medications that could result in  heart attack, stroke and even “blindness” , while all the time we watch happy actors blithely walking the beach or swinging their grandkids around.

So I muddle through, mostly.

However, May is not a month for muddling. Nosiree, happiness and joy are it’s hallmarks. One must follow the current dictum seen all over Facebook and “Keep Calm.”  Yes, friends, the merry, merry month of May calls  us to “Keep Calm… and Embrace the Joy.”

I plan to do just that, handkerchief at the ready, and pray for June when I can finally get a breath of non-pollinated air. Mean-while, a Merry May to all.