I have a love-hate relationship with May. When I was in high school, it was a month of chaos between dance competitions, studying for finals and preparing for graduation. When I got to university, May 1 was the first day I circled on the calendar. It became a symbol of four months of sweet, sweet freedom.
Like they always do, my TV shows ended for the season this month. Thumbs down to Gossip Girl and Supernatural for less-than-stellar (read: boring) season finales and 10 thumbs down for both Vampire Diaries and Glee for being so good that they reduced me to an emotional, sobbing mess for an hour. How I Met Your Mother was simply legen – wait for it – dary!
Then, there’s the weather. We’ve all heard that “April showers bring May flowers.” In Alberta, it’s more like “April showers bring May flowers, but they’re ruined with a frost warning and an unseasonal blizzard followed by three days of blistering sunshine and then three days of thunderstorms.” I had a dream to build up a lovely, golden tan in time for my June convocation. That dream has now died.
I also have issues with May long weekend. I know for some it’s the prime weekend for camping, but I’m not a camper. I’ve taken part in that particular summer tradition exactly twice in my 21 years. For the past few years, the long weekend for me has meant earning time-and-a-half for working the holiday weekend.
This year’s long weekend somewhat made up for that last four or so. My younger sister came to visit and we spent the weekend watching movies, shopping our bank accounts into oblivion, going out for dinner and strolling around the zoo. Sisterly bonding is kind of rare for us, so it was a nice change of pace from the occasional brief text.
May also means hockey season is soon coming to an end (the horror!). For the second year in a row, my teams have either missed the playoffs or been eliminated in the first round. It makes for a long post-season trying to cheer for teams that I don’t care about, but going from watching a game or two every night to almost complete radio silence for three months is even worse.
Hockey playoffs aside, it couldn’t be a better month on a sports front. For one, it’s quiet. It’s the plateau between hockey and spring football seasons and what I call “The Summer/Fall/Winter Sports Extravaganza.” When June hits, it’s glorious.
There’s the Stanley Cup Finals, the CFL season kick-off, the Euro soccer championships, the Airdrie Pro Rodeo, the Calgary Stampede, more rodeos, the Summer Olympics, high school football, fall football, the return of hockey season, professional and minor, the Grey Cup and finally the World Junior hockey tournament. It’s a sports junkie’s dream.
So, for the next few weeks, I’m going to kick back, get a head start on my summer reading list, shine up my cowboy boots, dig my Rider jersey out of the back of the closet and make sure the HD channels on my TV are in working order. It’s going to a great summer.
