the world's favourite season is the spring. all things seem possible in May (Edwin Way Teale)
The months roll by like wheels on a wheelchair. Pretty soon it'll be July. Feels like just last month it was May.* Ever since I can remember I've always had some special May feels. It's always been one of those important months but I could never say why. Maybe because my dad's birthday is in May? Or maybe because it's Mother's Day in Poland? Or maybe because June is so close that you slowly start thinking that school's gonna be over for the summer soon? Or maybe because it's in May that everything starts to bloom, the birds sing even louder, the weather is perfect for long evening walks and the day are so long that you feel like day and night equal 48 hours. I think every of the above mentioned reasons adds up to that magic that is slowly to be felt in the air.
As I'm slowly getting old and more and more sentimental, I like to bring back my childhood memories every now and then. When it comes to May I have a lot of them stored on the hard drive in my head that I could probably write a book devoted to my May-ish experience and add it as an appendix to my official biography. Thta's why i decided to select only two and write a little about them.
One of the strongest memories is pretty simple but has a little twist of plot and a detective tinge. When I was about 8 or 9 I remember reading at school that May is the month when elderberries grow. I love their smell and now feel kinda gutted that there's no elderberry near my flat in Warsaw (by 'near' I mean blooming elderberries being the view from my window). But in my hometown I was lucky enough to have them so close enough that one day I decided to pick a few and give them to my mum. I was so proud of myself back then and very happy but not for so long actually. When I brought the flowers home my mum asked if there had been anyone who might had seen me. I wasn't quite sure so asked the oldest question of the world, namely 'why?'. And then my mum made me aware of the fact that those elderberries belong to our neighbours so what I did was actually a little illegal. Hahahaha I was a little criminal. When I think about that incident now I guess I'd probably do the same without any hesitation though I'm like 14 years older.
Another memory is pretty fresh. 3 years ago I had my school leaving exams also known as 'Matura'. It's probably one of the most important exams in one's life (though quite frankly it's not the end of the world on the other hand) taken in Poland at the age of 19 or 20 (depending on the type of school you attend). To say that I was stressed back then is definitely an understatement. You never know what may happen, you never know the questions and actually there comes the time when all you know is nothing and still want more than 90% of points from every part of the exam. Guess every student knows what I mean. I remember the first day of m Matura. I had an exam in Polish, both basic and extended parts. I woke up at 4am because I still had some stuff to revise and I also couldn't sleep. When I looked through the window I saw s n o w. Yes, you got it right. Snow. In May. I like snow and am the winter kind of girl but on that day it made me even more stressed. My outfit wasn't prepare for such change in the weather so I had to grab something warmer, take an additional pair of shoes and it felt like preparing myself for a journey not an exam. Anyway all things considered that snow must have been a good sign cause my Polish exam was pretty good.95% from the extended part is soething to be proud of, right?
May is also considered to be the month of picnics. In Poland we also have our own special tradition called the barbecue season. Almost every house in my neighbourhood has its own grill and when it's warm outside you invite your family and friends, buy some meat and beer (or something stronger, beer is for the weak) and then you grill the meat until its almost black and the smoke is hovering around and the air smells as if there was somthing burning somewhere near and all your neighbours have already grabbed their phones and are probably calling the fire department right now. Unless they're having their own BBQ festival in their garden. Or on their balcony (that's the option for those who live in a block of flats and don't care that other people don't like the smell of grilled sausages). I hope you get my irony. I don't like BBQ though I know that it can be done in a healthy way without all that fat dripping from literally everything. But that stereotypical BBQ we have in Poland (because believe me, we do. come, see and complain with me) makes me pray for rain almost every weekend. Still I'm quite sure that when I settle down somewhere else I'm gonna miss that smell and all that goes with it. Maybe I should already start preparing a post on how I miss the smell of traditional Polish BBQ?
*Jarod Kintz
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