May Days

When the month of May comes around each year, it ushers along with it a more reflective time, as well as the scorching summer heat.

I think about chalking up another four weeks.

I think about how the title reminds me of May Day Eve by Nick Joaquin, and how I once got a 3.9/4.0 in a Philippine Literature class I took one summer, for writing my own short story that, as my Palanca-award winning English professor said, "echoed prose of Manuel Arguilla's Midsummer."

I think about summer vacations.

I think how 30+ years have gone by.

I think of how sometimes I still think I'm a teenager but realize a few minutes later that I'm not anymore.

I think about the time when I used to think about what I'd do when I grew up, who I'd be with, where I could go and then come back to reality, and discover that I'm way better off than I'd ever expected to be.

I think of the Detroit Pistons winning the number one overall pick in the lottery.

I think of the future and how I'm going to come to grips with it, how to move forward and realize that it's going to be alright with loved ones, family, friends along for the ride.

I think about a million ways things could go wrong and stop, then remind myself that there are always a billion ways it could go right as well.

There's just always something about May that makes me feel, well, just a wee bit older, wiser than the year before.

Oh, well, here's a toast to all the Mays of life, and all the years that come with it. May the joys outnumber the sorrows. May the laughter ring true more than tears. May dreams pair with reality than heartbreak. May friendship destroy bitterness. May love triumph hate.

These are the May Days my life, and more to come.