It’s May Day. Happy Stupid May Day! May Day is for celebrating the hope and renewal of spring. Don’t leave me a May basket because my only hope is that this month passes as quickly as possible. I don’t like this May person I have become.
Let me tell you, I have become something I never thought I would become.
I’m a cheerleader.
I know. Few things are sadder than the image of a 43-year-old woman who checks off “three live births” on an intake form at the doctor’s office being a cheerleader. But I am one. An old, weathered, discouraged cheerleader who (I have been told) does not drink anywhere near enough for this job.
I’m in charge of keeping morale high high high and shorts long long long.
I’m in charge of rallying the players when they lose focus or turn on each other.
I’m in charge of getting the whole team and sideline spectators to retain their enthusiasm.
I need to smile and have good hair. All the time. Nobody wants a haggard, negative, nochancewearegoingtomakeit cheerleader.
Normally this cheerleading gig, it doesn’t bother me too much. I’m actually pretty energetic about it. But I hate May. Seriously.
May needs to take a long walk off a short pier. All the months are my favorite next to May.
rah. rah. rah.
Some of my cheerleading is coaxing, encouraging, suggesting, begging them to do ALL OF THE NORMAL THINGS that I am supposed to get them to do. And I am supposed to do it in a nice way. rah.
(cue sing song voice that I don’t wear well) “Let’s pick up all of our nice things. We treat our toys with respect.” In other words, if I step on this Spider Man Super Hero Smasher one more time I am going burn it in the fire pit when you are at school.
“Let’s eat our vegetables so you will grow up healthy and be able to learn all the wonderful things at school.” In other words, I can’t even believe you grow at all since most of your calories involve drinking things out of pouches and a rotation of 3 other foods. I made it. Just eat it. If you don’t eat it now, you’ll have to bring it in the car. I don’t want to bring a fajita in the car.
“Let’s get that homework done. We have come this far. Don’t give up now.” In other words, I have literally spent DAYS cheering you on this far. If you give up, I will end you. We are NOT throwing in the towel now-we are closing in on the final seconds of this season. Stare at the polynomials.
“Let’s just somehow get through the week so we can just sit down this weekend for a minute.” This one is for my husband. It’s literal.
It’s a tough business…cheerleading in May. My pom pom muscles are weary now, my voice hoarse and May could use a good high kick to the face. In addition to all the standard things, are things unique to this month.
(continuing with my ironic sports reference)
My team this year has got their issues. I’m not going to comment directly on specific player personality issues since I’m just the cheerleader (I was just given this team to root for-I didn’t hand pick them in a draft) but here are a few of my key players and you can draw your own conclusions. I have a 13 year old girl finishing off the 8th grade. I have an 11 year old boy finishing off the 5th grade. I have a 6 year old boy finishing off Kindergarten. Yeah. It’s an eclectic mix. We aren’t really unified right now as a team. They all think they are free agents.
Apparently because of my diverse team, it means a deluge of testing (requiring eggs for breakfast?), fieldtrips, celebrations, graduations, year end gifts/cards, spring sport practices/games, activity pictures (which is so stupid as I have documented nearly every waking day of their lives-do I need a picture holding a soccer ball in front of a fake ominous cloud backdrop?), school choir/orchestra concerts, extra before and after school ‘opportunities’ and mandatory meetings for high school transition, middle school transition, activities in the fall that I have not yet signed up or paid for yet. These all have to take place in 30 days? Why? Why?
I take that back. I want the soccer magnet. The tiny cleats. The mini shin guards. I need it. But why for the love of everything do we take the pictures in May?
Oh and my anniversary is in May. Oh and Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day which coincides with the fishing opener 21 out of 25 years here in MN. I’d like to speak to the man who made that decision. I’m betting he is single.
This team is getting tired. They are ready for the off-season. And they are so sick of my loud, incessantly determined occasionally cheerful ‘YOU’VE GOT THIS” voice. I’m sick of it.
I say, “Go!” They say, “NO!” Or “Why?” Or “Now?” (with eye roll)
Go. NO. Go. NO. Go. NO. (you get the picture)
They like summer me. I like summer me. Let’s just sleep in and drink lemonade and go to the beach and listen to the birds and have ice cream and play badminton in the backyard and see how the day unfolds. That is the best me. I miss her. She can be fun. She never is screaming, “YOU HAVE FOUR MINUTES TO GET YOUR BUTT IN THE CAR!”
I just found out on May 21st our family is supposed to be in five different places at the same time. I want to vomit.
rah rah rah.
It’s the end of the school year and I know it’s spring and May flowers (oh yeah…I should put in some flowers) and all that crap but I feel like I’m doing an army crawl, in the mud under the barbed wire, with all 3 of them on my back and we are draaaaaging ourselves to June 8th.
Wait, that was a military metaphor. Mayday. Mayday. See. A distress signal.
Ok-back to sports. I feel like we are doing one of those amazing teetering cheerleading pyramids. Except it’s upside down, and I’m the single cheerleader on the bottom and I’m holding all of them up and their ripped end-of-the-year-getting-too-small-tennis-shoes are precariously balanced on my head. And I’m supposed to be smiling. With good hair. Full of hope.
June. Sweet June. I’m going to do a double back flip in my shortest skirt and french kiss you when I get to you.
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