I can’t believe it’s May 5th already. May is a red letter month in my family. My brother-in-law’s birthday is the 11th. My niece’s 16th birthday is on the 24th. My nephew’s 12th birthday is on the 20th.

Naturally, I graduated college (Drew University) in May–on the 20th, 1989–on, in fact, my niece’s due date. She very thoughtfully waited four more days before being born, and thus timed her arrival exactly halfway between my brother-in-law’s and my sister’s birthdays (June 7th). Not bad timing, considering she didn’t have access to a calendar, but then, she’s always been pretty thoughtful. And my nephew obviously thought that date sounded so nice, he used it for his own arrival. (We’re a very close family.)

May also ties in with almost all of our family dogs.

  We lost Muppy (on the left), our very first dog on May 5th, 22 years ago, when she was exactly 5 1/2 years old. (It was a rare form of anemia; nothing we could do.) Almost exactly a year later, on the day after Mother’s Day, we adopted Jilly (to the right). They were both miniature dachshunds; Muppy was a wire-haired; Jilly was smooth. Poor Muppy (whose name is short for “Mustard,” since she was a hot dog and we were kids). She was here for such a short time, and none of us had really decent cameras, so this professional shot is one of the only good pictures of her. Her fur was beautiful–she was more silver than tan, but had some of just about every possible hair color in there somewhere. It’s just such a shame she was so often sick.

Jilly had more classic dachshund coloring, and we were lucky enough to have her for a long, full life–almost 15 1/2 years! For my Boykins, I also lost Katy in May (on the 12th), four years ago . . . (Right around the time Chappy was being conceived, actually, so I suppose he’s got some connection to May, too!)

Mom and I always go on vacation together in May–have been since I was in college. In fact, in two weeks, I’ll be on Martha’s Vineyard. (Can’t wait!) We’ll have Chappy with us, too, and I’m sure a good time will be had by all. We’re timing this trip to overlap the refacing of our kitchen and bathrooms, too, so Mom and Chappy won’t be stressed by the household chaos. (My father actually volunteered to give up golf for a week, which, if you knew my father, would tell you exactly how stressed my mother would have been.)

Which reminds me, I need to find some good reading material to bring with me. Usually, I’ll have at least one, looked-forward-to book to bring along. (A relic of the days when Mom would buy one “Vacation Book,” which I wasn’t allowed to start until we were actually on vacation. Waiting to start it was agony.) This year, though . . . nothing special. I’m sure I’ll find something decent to bring along, but . . . nothing that’s got me champing at the bit.

And, we may be the only family that bothers to keep track of these things, but my half-birthday is in May. Tomorrow, in fact. Yes, I know it sounds silly. Who bothers to know when their half-birthday is? Except that, when you’re a kid, those halves are important! Four-and-a-half is much older than just plain, old four. (Everyone knows that!) We never did anything elaborate, of course, but Mom would say, “Happy Half-Birthday,” and might make a point of not making anything particularly disliked for dinner. One year, honest to goodness, she gave me half of a birthday card. (I really do come by these eccentricities honestly.)

May has Mother’s Day (U.S.) and Memorial Day, too . . . that includes a nationally-mandated 3-day weekend from work.

Really, except for the allergy thing, who could have anything against the Merry Month of May?

Oh! And I finished my shawl last night! I’ll get some pictures when I block it . . .

Tags: Family, General, Katy, Jilly, Muppy // 8 Comments »