The Month of May

I ran into a friend of mine today who was showing off a large bruise on her shin, which she received from running into a small piece of furniture. She said that it had been more than two weeks since the incident and only now the bruise was starting to fade into greenish yellow tints and fade away. I also had an incident that left me with a "bruise." My incident was only last Thursday and involved me jumping off a concrete bench and landing on my knees instead of my feet. Those watching will attest that it was a pretty good show. My knees and my right wrist felt like they were going to bruise over for sure. However, three days later, it is apparent that these injuries have skipped the blue and purple stage entirely and are instead turning greenish yellow and fading away. Three days and my bruises are practically gone from an outstanding accident that probably would have broken bones in another person. My first impulse is to complain about this because I have no injuries to show off. But, I have instead decided to change that opinion and favor this alternative response: basically, I'm Superman's daughter, and very blessed to be so. ;)

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The month of May for most people is the end of school and the beginning of what is sure to be a splendid summer of fun, sunshine, love, and probably some form of boredom at one point or another. May is the symbolic beginning of summer and a time loved by most people. I repeat: most people. You see, in my family, the month of May has an entirely different implication: work, experimentation, and character building. These things in and of themselves are not awful ideas. In fact, they are great things that are given to people on a pretty normal basis without any help. But, in my family, we help it. In May. The Month of May became (for a few years) a ritual in which my parent decided on a lesson they wanted to teach their children (and work on themselves) and they found an "interesting" way to teach it. The first Month of May was a experiment where we went without all modern conveniences. Yes, I mean ALL. No TV, microwave, computer, and we even turned out the lights for a week at the end. Instead of normal past-times, we played cards, board games, played the piano, read, and baked a lot of pies. Although this month was a tough change from the way we'd been living before, it taught me just how much I can live without, and let me tell you: I can live without A LOT! Over all, the lessons learned from this month are priceless to me now and have helped me in many ways over the last few years. Other Months of May included: Emergency Preparedness Month (in which each week was dedicated to a different kind of emergency we should be ready for: living on food storage for a week, turning off the water for a week and living off water storage, living without electricity for a week, and various other small day-to-day emergency tests) and Good Grocery Shopping Month (which ruled that each person only had $10 a week to spend on food [I must interject that I cheated during this month because I am weak with certain things and I just couldn't stand pretending to be poor]). But these two other Months of May have also helped me with being prepared for and knowing how to deal with emergencies, and also how to be better about buying groceries and saving money.

At the time, I felt sure that my parents were only trying to make life miserable. Now, I can see that they were trying to teach me something valuable that I would use for the rest of my life. In retrospect, not such a bad idea. :)

The point: It's May again, and though I've never really missed the Month of May since I've moved out, I have wondered what I would do for a "Month of May." I know it's a little late to get started, but I have considered it anyway. But in thinking about it, I have come to an interesting discovery: this month has been a time for me to bring together all of the previous Months of May and implant them in my life. I don't have a lot of money so grocery shopping must be done efficiently, I have a lot of time with nothing to do and I don't want to idle around all day watching Bonanza (no matter how good of a show it is), and I sometimes need to be prepared for irregularities. So far this month has been (and probably will be for the rest of the month) a test of how well I can apply these lessons I have learned to my life. My parents have done good and I can prove it. I am probably more ready for anything than anyone else my age. Life isn't easy, but I have have the tools to make it through. It may be hard, but my parents always told me, "You can do hard things."

This month of May I want to prove them right. Life is hard, but I can do hard things.

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"Life is a storm my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment and be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome, 'Do your worst! For I shall do mine!'" --The Count of Monte Cristo

"Don't tell God how big the storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is."

"It's only a failure if you can't say what you've learned from it." --Dr. P

"Nothing is impossible until the laws of physics tell you so. Then get a second opinion."

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Today's Featured Quote:

"A man has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses." --C.S. Lewis