May Days

My daughter gave me flowers for May Day, and I have a picture to post. But tonight I have too many words to write.

Ken and I bought a bed. We don't have it yet because it's being made in Massachusetts. We had all but decided on one from LLBean, mostly because we hadn't seen anything we liked better. Then last Saturday we went into a store where I love to look but rarely buy anything. We were looking for specific juice glasses, which we found, and I decided to visit the furniture downstairs like I always do.

I don't remember ever seeing the bed that caught my eye, made of cherry and walnut. Our first choice would be a bed made of cherry, but we have a walnut dresser we love and it's hard to bring those two woods together, unless the bed is made of both. The design is simple and the lines are clean. I never would have picked it out of a catalog or given it a second look online, but in person the bed is just what I would have wanted if I had known what I was looking for.

The question was would Ken like it too. He did. We walked down the street and decided over a cup of coffee that it was time to place the order. While we were at it we picked out two matching cherry nightstands with walnut handles. In 37 years we've never had matching nightstands. I am very excited.

Two weeks ago we made another kind of purchase. Airplane tickets. This summer Ken and I are traveling to the West Coast. We weren't sure dates were going to work, but once things began to fall into place there was no question it was meant to be.

At Christmas our son P, in San Francisco, told us he had plans to take a few days vacation in July and encouraged us to come for a visit. We wanted to also visit Seattle but our son T wasn't sure how long the summer session, his final one at UW, would last or if he would even still be in Seattle. When T called to say he was in classes until mid-July it began to feel like the trip would work. Ken researched baseball games [yes, we have been known to plan a vacation around a Red Sox game] and found the Sox playing in Oakland right when we planned to visit. Then he learned that the Seattle Mariners will be playing at home the weekend we hoped to visit that fine city for the first time. The icing on the cake was hearing from friends that they will be in town during our time in California and would love to host us for a weekend.

Sometimes things work out.

Like this past Wednesday when I had dinner with my daughter. We had talked on the weekend. Lots has happened and we needed time to catch up with each other, so I planned to meet her for an early dinner. The timing was perfect for so many reasons.

My week started with a dead car battery Monday morning. I quickly called school, emailed lesson plans, and called AAA. The nicest tow truck driver arrived in record time, jump started my car, and sent me on my way to work. That afternoon I stopped to have my mechanic check my battery, which was fine, but he saw I needed a headlight. Ugh. I had been an hour late to school, and I was an hour late getting home.

Tuesday was a long day at school and I came home exhausted. I got an email from T that he needed a copy of his college transcript ~ was there one here that I could scan and email to him? It was one of those times when my organizational skills came in handy because within minutes I had my hands on his official transcript. I called to tell him and learned that he had an interview for a job in Seattle.

Oh. Right. That is what might come next.

So Wednesday I packed the transcript with my papers and figured I would find a way to scan and email it to him. I didn't figure that the task would be such an emotional one.

Reality can hit hard.

I was especially glad for the time with my daughter that evening. Her days are busy, so when we see each other there is a lot to catch up on. We talked nonstop for four hours. I felt better.

That night P called to touch base. He really likes his job, including the long hours and all the travel. We talked about seeing each other this summer. I shared that I am looking forward to the trip, that I miss seeing him, especially this time of year.

There is something about the springtime that I intensely miss all of us being together. There aren't birthdays to celebrate or milestones to measure, but the lengthening light and the warmer days put me in mind of track meets and chorus concerts, evening walks and cook-outs, the promise of summer months ahead to spend together.

As happy as I am for my children, I miss those summer months together. I wonder if I will ever be content with the catch-as-catch-can time we have together. I will think I am resolved to this life, then I need to excuse myself from a conversation with the school librarian because I can't hold the tears back another minute. Emotions spill over and thoughts turn to passing time that cannot be turned back and will not stop.

It's May.