Loose Ends

Seasons have distinct feelings...not emotions, but the way they fit into your life. Smells, sounds, light, darkness, etc. Summer feels long, slow moving; dragging along the calendar. Fall is quick, crisp, brilliant. Days get shorter, the air is thinner. Winter just hangs there, suspended like the gray clouds in January (that was a little too much, sorry), but you get my point. Spring just pops and it's there one morning. White buds blend to green leaves and it's over. Seasons are distinct and that's their beauty. As a school teacher, there are different seasons all together. There are times of the year that you love and times that you hate...May is a time to hate.

You see, May is the busiest month of the year. Final Exams, AP tests, prom, awards day, graduation, etc. All the loose ends being tied up as fast as they can. Students looking forward to the next step in their life, looking forward to the next 4-6 years as preparation for entrance to the "real world". Let's be honest though, that phrase ("real world") should be discontinued and never spoken or written again. Some students are nostalgic, but most are impatient and ready to move on. And they take their exams, fill out their cap and gown size, get their prom pictures developed, show them off, wear their college shirts on the designated day, think there is no class as good as the class of '06, walk to the stage, get the diploma while their tassel hangs loosely on the side of their cap. Then it ends.

If seasons have feelings then May feels loose to me. Two months ago I hurt my knee playing basketball and even after three weeks, when there was no pain, my knee had no stability. It felt as if it were floating inside my leg. That's the best way I can describe the month of May. Kind of like saying, "I'm not quite sure which direction everything will go, but we're giving it our best shot." It's that kind of month. We'll get there for sure, I just don't know how. Our kids that we're sending off to college and beyond: they'll get there, we just don't know how it's going happen, but we know it's going to happen. The loose ends will be tied and they'll be ready to move once again.