"Want to do a May Challenge?" my friend texted me at the end of April. She loves doing plank, push up or dietary challenges and always tries to rope me in for accountability (or because misery loves company, as I often counter!).
"Friend," I responded, "May IS the challenge!!"
May was progress checking in the form of end of year testing for my students ~ state, district, and school mandated. Tiring for the kids, stressful for us.
May was activism via speeches at Board meetings and presentations before the Council of Instruction with just days' notice.
May was dressing up for a fancy gala with colleagues, honoring one of our volunteers.
May was the rollercoaster of bad news, good news, bad news when it came to our budget.
May was the cannibalistic side of humanity with almost daily rumors, innuendo, angling and speculation around teaching assignments.
May was a day of respite on Mother's Day, where I got to do exactly what I wanted, and that involved flowers, vegetables and lots and lots of dirt!
May was my standing manicure appointment with my college roommate and a pedicure on feet that hadn't seen open toed shoes in half a year!
It was the bittersweet of graduation and lasts and firsts and family and an impending true empty nest.
It was the warmth of meeting my ex-husband's new significant other and welcoming her into our little fold.
It was the heartfelt speech delivered with conviction at our Graduation Eve dinner that was all I needed and wanted to say to my trio of daughters, as well as honoring my authentic self.
May was the pressure of paperwork and purchases and packing kids to send them out West.
May was the legality of leases and tenants and renter's insurance and weighing vehicles.
It was the mapping of driving routes across country from three different locations for three different kids.
May was the energy of annual school events, like Field Day and Camp Mason.
May was endlessly washing sheets and making beds, running the dishwasher, switching laundry and buying/prepping/cooking endless meals for bottomless pit young adults.
May was a revolving door of kids and their friends in and out.
May was multiple trips up and down the I-95 corridor through New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
May was a final East Coast beach getaway with my youngest in chilly weather (my favorite!) with shopping, walking and ice cream.
It was magical nights at my brewery with friends and family, playing board games, cards and cornhole.
It was one potential job assignment after another, and reminding myself each time not to get attached to an outcome.
May was squeezing in exercise through 11 pm runs on the basement treadmill, lunch walks and weightlifting in the family room during whatever show we were binging.
May was the stunning news of my brother's new overseas assignment and the sibling call where he detailed his work and the risks.
It was an impromptu going away party at my sister's, where once again I found myself delivering a bittersweet speech honoring an amazing man and his incredible service to others.
May was tears of joy, happiness, togetherness, melancholy, poignancy, worry, fatigue, a season, and Life.
May was the equivalent of my much maligned work computer situation.
Whenever something glitches and I put in a Helpdesk ticket,
our tech guy ends every fix with this admonition,
"You know, if you'd close all these windows and open tabs,
it would really help your processing speed.
It's being drained by all you're asking it to do,
and closing them would free everything up
and make your computer more efficient."
Yeah, that was my May in a technology metaphor nutshell.
May was open windows and many, many tabs.
I might have been "focused" on one task,
but in the background, those others tabs were running,
draining my energy and efficiency.
The tabs of family, events, celebration, work,
dog sitters, speeches, logistics, maps, reservations,
planning, housecleaning, garden planting, water softener salt,
travel, shopping, and meals, meals, meals.
Girlfriend, May WAS the challenge!
And I knew enough not to add
that horrific 5 minute daily plank challenge into the mix.
The Journey Inward 
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