May is considered my bridge to summer where late nights don’t feel so late. This year it was filled with fun and not-so-fun. Not-so-fun in that we are all ready for school to be out, yet it’s not. So we must still do homework, piano, guitar and have early bedtimes. Fun because we had a socially active calendar. Highlights were: dancing our feet sore at an 80s Prom hosted by our good friends, The Reams; hosting a TOMORROWLAND party because our good friend, Jeff Jensen, helped write and produce it; and attending one of the last Graces’ meeting with our dear friend, Shannon, who will be moving to Sacramento in two months. It is a time of grieving as she’s the second member, of our 5 woman group, to leave in two years. We lost our first member to brain cancer last June 19th. We’ve been meeting for almost 16 years.
Photo Review:
Lovin’ Spring Flowers
Not quite as enjoyable but nonetheless important — 11 hours at the Hunter’s Safety Course…getting ready for hunting near Jackson Hole this September.
An amazing night — 80s Prom at the Reams
With it staying light later — this month brought with it a number of evening walks 
Watching TOMORROWLAND, co-written by our good friend, Jeff Jensen, with 50 of our friends. If you haven’t, go!
Tomorrowland Party!!! 
Succulents in Bloom! 
A love anytime, though doesn’t help with my swimsuit preparation :(. 
May was a big gymnastics month for us. 
Quotes Worth Remembering:
“We read because we are looking to see what others are thinking, feeling, seeing; how they are acting out their frustrations, their happiness, their addictions; we see what we can learn. How do people manage marriage and loss and illness and sex and parenting? How do they do all this? Often, the emotions that fill our inner lives are too large to make sense of; chaos and irrationality jump around inside us. To enter the form of a story is to calm down, or excite ourselves, within a controlled space.” Elizabeth Strout, The Best American Short Stores 2013
“I think this summer was also the period when I first struck on the idea of ambition, that I could be something in particular, rather than just myself in general.” p. 53, Michael Byers, In The Best American Short Stores 2013
“Love isn’t in the actual grab and heft of body when he comes out of school and runs into my arms, crying with glee. No. Love is the moment just as he comes out of the schoolhouse door, standing amid his friends, and searches for my eyes. Love is in the second he sees me, and I see him, dressed in one of his outrageous outfits, bright startling coats, weird hats, drooping strange pants…” pg. 117 by David Means, The Best American Short Stores 2013
“Many children threaten at times to run away from home — this is the only thing that keeps many parents going.” — Phyllis Diller, In The Best Joke Book (period)
Ted’s grandmother pulls him aside at his eighth birthday party and hands the boy a five-dollar bill. “Here, this is a little something extra from Grandma. But not a word of this to your brothers and sisters.”
The boy looks at the bill and responds, “If you want me to stay quiet, it’s going to cost you a lot more.” — The Best Joke Book (period)
Songs on Repeat Mode:
Counting on Love by Matt McAndrew
Dream by Imagine Dragons
Believe by Mumford and Sons
Chains by Nick Jonas
At the Cross (Love Ran Red) by Chris Tomlin
The Hurt & The Healer by MercyMe
Books on My Nightstand:
The Best Joke Book (period): Hundreds of the Funniest, Silliest, Most Ridiculous Jokes Ever by William Donohue
What Love Comes to: New and Selected Poems by Ruth Stone
An Invitation to Silence and Solitude by Ruth Haley Barton
The Best American Short Stores 2013 Edited by Elizabeth Strout
Until next month…Blessings as you roll into summer!