If May Were a Person...

...I would hug it and kiss it and never let it go.

I ADORE MAY.

Why?, you ask.  I'll tell you.

~ With our formal education winding down for the school year, we happily switch gears to our more relaxed summer mode of learning.

~ Beauty is bursting out all over.  May is such a gorgeous month, and the visual displays of loveliness outside make my heart sing.

~ Because warm weather is still fairly new for us in May, we eagerly embrace time in the great outdoors.  Later summer months find us used to the joy of warm days; but in May, being able to run outside basically any time we want is still fresh and exciting.

~ Our extracurricular activities all but disappear in May, bringing a welcome sense of completion as well as extra free time in the schedule.

~ With more time to fill in whatever way I choose, I inevitably turn my attention to household tasks that have been neglected; and my home-loving, organization-appreciating, always-nesting self delights in bringing order to places where chaos has found a footing.

Are five reasons enough?  :)

Perhaps they are sufficient to explain why May has come to be quite possibly my favorite month of the whole year.  The beauty and peace and lack of stress and warmth and sunshine and abundance of time at home and moments of playing together--all of these combine to set May apart from any other month.

Well, isn't June just as wonderful?, you might be thinking.

Yes, and no.  Many of May's best attributes continue into June and beyond, but something significant happens in June: the pace of life picks up.  More boxes on the calendar have ink already in them, and knowing that some big events are on the way (even if they are events that I am truly excited about) already heightens my stress level, even if by just the teeniest amount.  Plus, our garden harvest begins in June and continues fairy steadily through the next few months (as a matter of fact, Jeff picked the first of our peas tonight).  I am grateful--absolutely!--for the harvest; and seeing the wide variety of fresh, healthy produce growing right outside my door never ceases to make me feel like a rich woman!  :)  But if that luxury of produce is going to be preserved and not go to waste, I will be spending hours and hours in the kitchen, doing the work of freezing and canning.  I don't regret that, I'm glad to do it, and I savor the time spent together as a family, working to preserve the harvest.  But it does add something to the summer schedule that the merry month of May gets to skip along without, for the most part!

Let me confess something: last night, as I put the kids to bed on the last evening of May, I actually caught myself feeling rather glum.  I wasn't ready to wave goodbye to May, and I surely wasn't ready to say hello to June.  Fortunately, however, after I took some time last night to take down the calendar from the wall and write in a number of special events that are coming up, my spirits lifted; and I was reminded of so many wonderful things to look forward to.

But even though I never want to wish my life away, can I admit that I'm already looking forward to the wondrous day when the calendar is once again turned to the spectacular month of May?  :)

Because I cherish May so much, I couldn't let the month depart without a glance over my shoulder at the things that made this particular May unique.  

Like the hail that fell on the first day of the month...

The hailstones weren't big enough to do any damage, and the whole thing didn't last very long; but we enjoyed the chance to see a weather event that rarely comes our way.

All the rest of these pictures were taken on May 9, a lovely Saturday evening that we spent outdoors.  I was enjoying the evening so much that I decided to just walk around the house, camera in hand, and see what bits of beauty I could capture.  I found a few.  ;-)

 Blossoms on a blueberry bush...does this mean we'll actually get fruit from it this year?  :)

 The last of the lilacs were lingering on...

 The sweet little chicks from this post?  Well, they grew up and turned into these black chickens.  Not quite as cute as they used to be.  ;-)

 The peonies weren't quite ready to open...

 ...and I noticed that some ants had decided to invade.  A week or so later, these peonies were in full bloom and were gorgeous.

 The strawberry plants I planted a couple of years ago...

 ...have turned into this.

Lily of the valley...

 ...one of my favorite flowers.

As our time outside drew to a close, I walked down to the grapevine to see what I could see.

 Ah, yes.  The promise of an abundant grape harvest to come, if all goes well!

Thank you, May, for all the many, many moments of peace and beauty you gave us this year.  My heart is at rest, filled to the top with contentment, when I think of you!