Thursday, May 31, 2007

Adiós a mayo

Today, on the very last day of May, I want to profusely thank the month for having made up in glorious, sunny days for all the dreary chill of the near-endless wintry start to 2007.

May restored my faith that winter had finally capitulated to spring, although we did have some chilly days during my mom's visit. Good Caribbean woman that she is, she can't handle much cold at all and isn't acclimated, as I am after years of living in Ohio, to our changeable weather. But, all in all, she had good, warm days to take long walks to get her favorite salad at a local eatery.

Tonight, as my husband and I walked the dogs, I saw the first firefly of the season. The first luciérnaga all lit up and floating around, looking for a mate to ignite with. Oddly, I saw only one, and I didn't see a single other one on our walk back. Still, I'm going to take that single firefly as the first sign of summer, even if it's not a particularly enthusiastic sign.

Today I also accepted a tenure-track position (read: a real job) at the small liberal arts college where I've had a position as a visiting instructor for the past year and where I'll be as a dissertation fellow next year. Thus, my life is pretty much set for the foreseeable future. And being someone who likes to plan her life five years in advance, that feels so good! Today I also had a nice celebratory dinner with Dr. S and her excellent friend, both of whom are now going to be my colleagues for this foreseeable future. That's also a very good thing.

My husband isn't so thrilled that we're staying in Ohio for that foreseeable future (he'd rather be in Spain or Italy or Puerto Rico). But I'll just have to remind him each winter that there's always May and the fireflies to look forward to.

2 comments:

Dr. S said...

Maybe that luciérnaga was me.

Anonymous said...

The moon is gone.

She fled as dawn approached.




Dawn as a slowly opening eye.




White sea birds skimming over the water,

looking for an early morning snack.



The mirror brightens.


From a blood moon at dawn to a mirror

reflecting waking life...






#######



I woke her to take the moon.


Her campaign was swift and terrible.


Metallic and fierce.

Glaring up in the twilight.


But the moon was both implacable and unreachable

and in the end the war against the moon failed.

As dawn rose slowly from her bed, the moon slipped away.

But in the end, all that was lost,

was a little sleep....