April Showers, May Horse Races.

This April was ridiculous. It always is, though. I've never been a big fan of April. In my experience of this big, mysterious thing called life, I have what I call my off-kilter months. They are January (I've discussed this at length here), March and April. I used to think March and April were bad because I worked in college admissions, and those are the months when every college admission office is DESPERATELY trying to make their class, planning, coordinating and hosting HUGE visit programs, staying at the office until 9 or 10pm calling prospective students trying to win them over any way possible, and then staying until midnight, even 1am doing paperwork.... oy, just thinking back on it makes me cringe. May 1 is the National Candidate Reply Date, and it was always a very abrupt transition. The last week of April we'd be working 18 hour days, desperately reading daily yield reports, feeling that twist of the knife when the student you thought was in the bag chose Denison/Ohio State/Miami, being the powerless go-between with angry parents trying to milk just a few more scholarship dollars out of the deal and the financial aid office... and then it would be May 1 and BAM. Over. Done. As the higher ups slowly came to terms with the outcome of our efforts - good or bad - counselors began actually leaving at 5pm and talking over lunch about vacation plans. Visits would go from the panic and inescapable rudeness of frenzied seniors (frenzied parents!) trying to make up their minds to the calmness of smarty-pants sophomores and the parents who speak for them getting a head start on college visits.

But this is the second spring that I've NOT been working in college admissions, and yet March and April still felt off to me. Not sure what to make of that.

But it's May now, thank goodness, and I leave for Ohio two weeks from today for my college reunion - Chamber Singers reunion, specifically, which is my favorite kind of reunion at Kenyon. And then it will be June, and I'm REALLY excited for the summer.

Oh! Right!! I just re-read the Title I typed. The point of this entry was supposed to be that we had INSANE storms in April. Way too many tornado warnings for my liking. I've been to Louisville twice in three weeks and might have finally fallen in love with a city in Kentucky - the first time I was there for my dear friend Emily's wedding and the second time was for Derby weekend - so April storms transitioned into May horse races, which kind of felt a lot like the transition from my days in college admissions, actually. Going to Churchill Downs was so relaxing and just FUN. I can't wait to do it again next year!