Ooof, May Is a Doozy

May has been crazy. Absolutely bananas. But, I am finally feeling like I am on the other side of the madness, or at least I have a foot and 2/3 of my body on the sane side. 

Upshot: in May, the following happened: 

- I celebrated my 46th birthday

- I wrote and compiled my National Board Teacher Certification renewal (yikes, in about a week and a half, procrastinate much?)

- I completed my National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) New Leader's Training that started in February and ended May 15th. Woo hoo, I am a new SEED leader! 

- I finished co-facilitating my first district SEED I seminar with a colleague and friend last week

- My beautiful little Pumpkin was officially totaled, and I placed an order for my new Crosstrek, which should be here in, ummmm, SEPTEMBER. Thank you, global supply chain crisis. Also, they don't freaking make it in Sunshine Orange anymore, so now I'm stuck with boring Horizon Blue Pearl, although I've named it Bluebird. Except today I found out that I might have to settle for white, which I think looks like a Storm Trooper but then I could call it Hedwig, too. Which I guess is a good consolation prize. 

Bye, little pumpkin. I hugged it. They would have had to rebuild the whole back half. :(

- I went on a field trip May 12th for the kids who did not go on the 8th grade D.C. trip, to our local zoo. First, zoos leave me conflicted. But second, I made it all the way until the end of the trip when we were walking to the bus through the gravel playground/construction site without incident. Unfortunately as we walked through the multiple kindergarten classes waiting for THEIR bus, I hit uneven pavement and a rock and my ankle buckled, launching me into one of those horrible slow forward-falls that you are CONVINCED you can catch yourself and recover from, but ultimately ends with you falling on your knees on sharp gravel, yelling SONOFABITCH! in front of so many 6-year-olds and rolling around on your back while your knees start to bleed, laughing and crying hysterically because it's so crazy. And painful. And you're never going to live it down. Fun fact: I did not know until this May that if you get a big bruise on your leg that the blood will actually run down your leg INSIDE YOUR SKIN and pool in your ankle/foot. Yummmmmm. 

The day of the fall. 

a couple days later

Over the weekend, with pretty blood foot

NEVER BORING. 

I feel somewhat cursed, but then again I remember that there is psychic energy around May. May is when we packed up our nursery and donated it and officially made the call to end our adoption journey. May is when we knew, without a doubt, that we would never be parents. And it's crazy to think, but National Board Certification renews every 5 years, and 5 years ago I madly wrote all my papers and compiled my stuff for my original certification over Mother's Day weekend, because I hadn't had time thanks to, you know, a medical and mental health crisis. But I achieved, and I hope I renew okay with this year's mad dash to get everything together. Memorial Day is this coming weekend and I am going to do everything possible to a) stay in one piece and b) not think too much about the long holiday weekend 5 years ago, when I loaded our nursery and physical representation of our dream into a lady's car and my car and drove it to her house where she kept donation things for women who had unplanned pregnancies and needed material support. Packing up your alternate reality is a heavy, heavy grief. It makes sense that I'm having a rough time this May given that anniversary. 

BUT, all in all, things are good, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and I've made it through (almost) all of the crazy responsibilities I've piled on top of myself this year. 

One more week of May! 

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