Thanks to the constant rain this month, Texas is flooded. The bayous are swollen, the streets are impassable, and yards are like swimming pools. This kind of weather is so fitting for May, a month also flooded with commitments, parties, emotions, and stimulants.
We introverts can handle the a light, steady rain of stimuli. We can smile through the Mothers Day slide show, complete with pictures of our kids as newborns. We will show up for every end-of-the-year celebration, every Volunteer Brunch, every graduation party. The introverted coaches will make farewell speeches to baseball and soccer teams. We will go to the bbqs and swim meets and games. We will feel all the feelings and marvel at the significance of our babies finishing another school year. We will talk and talk about our babies, who will soon be starting Kindergarten or Middle School or college.
But the constant pounding of these feelings and duties will take a toll on us introverts.
If you’re also an introvert, your soul feels flooded in this extrovert’s world. You need a little emotional sunshine, some quiet time to process and dry up the running rivers of emotions.
But if you’re a mama in Houston, that’s not happening today. School is cancelled, thanks to all the literal flooding. Today I had planned on quietly doing the piles of laundry, thinking, and checking off my to-do list.
But now the kids, who are also feeling flooded with feelings, will be home. And our whole introverted family needs the quiet sunshine so badly. Our kids look as worn-out as I feel. They also need the sunshine of quiet.
Today our house will try to hold up our umbrellas in protest to the torrential downpour of May’s commitments. Today our introverted family will try to turn the tide of May and use this day to dry out, to recoup before the pounding activities of the Last Day of School.
Today we will try to bask in the sunshine of quiet.
Today we will dry out our introverts’ psyches with books, quiet time, and lots of the light we need.
Take that, May.
