A Fascinating Game

Break out the champagne, kiddies - it is May 1.

Dawn of a new month. New hope, new prospects, another fresh beginning.

May is the first hopeful month of the year.

April is a charlatan. A quack. April is an extension of winter.

May brings with it a feel. The feel of warmth. Sunshine. Soil encrusted fingernails burrowing in the garden. Barbecue grills curling lazy smoke skyward in easy peace.

Winter barbecuing is a desperate act.

You walk around in April with your head down because it blind sides you at every turn. Gives you a little hope then smashes it to the ground.

May is gentler. It eases you into life as it was meant to be lived.

Staggering around drunk firing your Glock into the neighbors yard.

Just kidding. Checking to see if you are actually paying attention.

How does this hope thing actually work?

I was given another dose of hope yesterday. Another chance at something I came very close to obtaining back in the fall of 2014.

It has come back around and I don't know what to think.

How long do you cling to hope? How long before your brain says "Hey, Jacko - give it up. You are torturing yourself with this hope thing. It ain't gonna save you. You are a weasel digging in the dirt and that is all you will ever be."

How does hope work? Do you just add water?

Hope resurfaces on April 30 and takes root on May 1.

The significance is not lost on me.

There is no more hopeful month than May.

I'll run with it.

Why not?

Life is a fascinating game to play.