It’s May and I’m Losing My Dang Mind

I’m sitting here in my quiet kitchen.  Nobody else is home.  There’s no arguing, no begging for food, no ridiculous tween Disney show on the TV.  I’m writing and no one is bugging me.

And you know what?

I’d better enjoy it now, because it’s May and the school year is almost over.  Which means pretty much one thing and one thing only:

Every mom every where in all the land is *this close* to losing her dang mind.

May is the new December

I heard that comment the other day and couldn’t agree more.  I mean, we all know when we’re heading into it that December is going to be crazy, right?  All of the post-Thanksgiving, pre-New Years insanity is easy to anticipate.  But then there’s May.

Somehow, we (and by we I mean I) always seem to forget that May is its very own special kind of bananas.

Maybe it’s because there’s no headliner-level holidays?  I don’t know.  I mean, sure, there’s Mother’s Day and Memorial Day to consider, but those don’t carry the weeks-long anticipation that, say, Christmas does.  Or maybe it’s because we’re all just so happy that the weather is nice again that we look forward to May’s arrival through rose-colored glasses.

But then…

(Guys.  I am so sorry.  I didn’t want to include that picture, but I had to illustrate my point.  Please forgive me!)

Then, like clockwork, as sure as *NSYNC-era Justin Timberlake memes will fill your social media feed proclaiming May’s arrival, the shizz begins to hit the fan.

May: The End of Everything

I don’t care if you’re a homeschooling mom, private school, public school, whatever.  I think we can all agree that the whole entire school year saves up allllllllll of its crazy for May.

Testing, programs, conferences, testing, the BIG field trips, graduations, proms, did I mention testing, class parties, award ceremonies, and ohmygraciousI’malreadyexhausted.

Then, you have to throw in the magical overlapping of sports seasons (I’m looking at you soccer and swim team!).  Oh, you were only going to 2 practices a week?  That was working pretty well for you, you say?  Let’s just go ahead and up that to 5.  Sound good?  Swell!

Do you have a second grader or a teenager?  Well then, maybe it’s time for sacraments, too!  First Holy Communion and Confirmation, while absolutely wonderful and precious and literally all the good things rolled up into one (please don’t send me hate mail, Catholic moms!), can be insanely stressful, too!

And, oh!  Your child takes some sort of performance art lesson?  Well, then hold your theatrical horses because now is crunch time for all of plays, concerts, and recitals of all varieties!

Let’s see…what else…?  Right!  Now is the time when you have to find all of those lost library books!  And just about the time you send all of those out the door?  That’s when all of the stuff starts coming home.  Half-used notebooks, broken pencils, assorted crayons, rulers that have been colored on, torn up folders…you know the drill.

Basically, the kids don’t want to be in school anymore, so they’ve given up.  The teachers are all (rightly) exhausted and keeping their eyes trained on that light at the end of the tunnel that is the last day.  And moms?

Moms are running around like fools trying to get everything done that they possibly can before the school’s out.  We’ve sworn we are not adding any more money to their dang school lunch accounts so please, for the love, stop buying cookies with the little you have left.  Maybe our definition of “clean laundry” has slipped a little bit and we aren’t quite so particular about what the little buggers wear when they leave in the morning.  And lunchboxes?  Oy.  Let’s just say Martha Stewart would weep if she could see what constitutes lunch anymore.

Let’s just get this over with

Moms, we can do this!  We can knuckle down and get through this craziness, can’t we?  WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!

Just because we might start the month like Mary Poppins and end it like freaking Miss Hannigan, that doesn’t make us any less awesome, does it?  I SAY IT DOES NOT, SIR!

So, just like I gave you permission to be the lazy spring break mom, I’m going to give you permission to be the “make it out any which way you can” May Mom.  Now, I don’t have time to make you up a fancy permission slip this time (it’s May, remember?).  But the sentiment is totally there.

Mom, you do what you gotta do to get yourself and your family through the craziness!  Order that pizza, go through that drive-thru, pay that library fine, and oooo and ahhhh over every last art project that comes home.

Because, soon enough, May will be over and summer will arrive in all of it’s sweltering glory!

And all God’s people said AMEN.

Feature Photo by William Iven on Unsplash