May brings sense of possibility

A man named Edwin Way Teale won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for nonfiction writing.

Long before he became famous and knew how plentiful his life's harvest would be, he penned "The world's favorite season is the spring … All things seem possible in May."

Those words came to mind because of a couple of experiences I have had in the past few weeks.

Kids get bored on car trips, so when our granddaughters, Caroline and Bryn, were riding to Salt Lake City with us one day, we started reading billboards.

Caroline happened to notice one for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. She started saying it over and over, and then she and her sister had a contest. If you say it fast enough, it turns into a tongue twister, which threw us all into a giggly mood.

Not long after, I received a request to be a friend to Bill Hawes on Facebook.

The Hawes boys grew up in New Canaan, Conn., and were good friends of my kids.

I replied, asking what he was doing and where he was living. He told me that he and two of his brothers, Tom and Steve, along with their dad and Daryl Neider, another New Canaanite, were behind the Five Guys franchises in the area.

Whenever I traveled to Salt Lake City, I meant to try Five Guys. I never did.

Then one day, on the way to the gym, I looked over and discovered a Five Guys had popped up in Orem.

Burger-lovers rejoice. Five Guys is to burgers what Cafe Rio is to Mexican food. To say the food is good — well, that would be an understatement. And to you cholesterol counters, I've got to say, it is well-worth-it indulgence.

My whole experience there made me proud of those "kids" who, of course, are no longer kids to anyone else but me. They have turned their possibilities into the blossoms of success.

In our own family this May, our son, Jim, will realize the blooming of one of his dreams when he graduates from medical school on May 17.

I've mentioned previously that because he was the youngest with no one to tell on him, he bore watching.

Until he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we were never quite sure just how he would turn out.

Completing medical school is a great accomplishment on Jim's part, especially as he was an art major in college and had to start from scratch in subjects such as microbiology and organic chemistry.

We're so proud of him. It should also bring great satisfaction to the "village" that helped us raise this child and also to his wife, Shamberlin, and their two little boys, who sacrificed and supported Jim in this goal.

Right now, my husband, Grit, is planting his vegetable garden and hoping for a good harvest.

He doesn't know what the weather will be like or if bugs will invade or if he has strong plants, but he is planting with hope.

It is the same way with people.

It is greatly rewarding to watch people grow up and achieve their dreams. They don't need to be big dreams, just satisfying-for-them dreams.

When we hear of someone who gets broken or weeded out, it's heartbreaking. But we don't know that in May, we only find out those things in September.

That is probably why we all — especially those of us who have seen a few Septembers — love May so much. It is the month full of sunshine, hope and possibilities.

E-mail: sasyoung2@aol.com