All The Things About May And What's Happening This Summer

Farewell Maycember. Hello social-media free summer?!

Emily P. Freeman writes a monthly letter she sends to her email friends and every time it arrives in my inbox, I’m so happy to read it and reminded that I need to more consistently do the same.

So, hello! Here’s to the end of May, and the beginning of the summer season. First, a reflection and then I’ll share my exciting (and more than a little scary) plan for the next several months.

What I Want To Remember About May 2025:

• We graduated our middle child, Audrey, and I’m equal parts proud, sad, excited, and anxious. She’s ready to fly. She’s going to thrive. This is what is supposed to happen. Still, I’m sad for the sweet season of having my daughter in our home full-time to end. I’ll miss her checking in on the dogs that are hanging out on my bed. I’ll miss hearing her voice through the walls as she sings Taylor Swift songs while she’s showering. And I’ll miss a million other things. I’m holding this while knowing the end of this season makes a new beautiful season possible.

  

• I’m always going to think I need more food for a graduation open house than we’ll ever need. Please remind me of this in two years when I insist on going back to the grocery store three times to buy more of something I already have.

• The end of May is the anniversary of when our family received a threatening C&D. I think about it every year, even though how deeply and what exactly I’m thinking and feeling about it has changed. And in a twist we didn’t see coming, this May brought a FedEx delivery of a subpoena to a trial scheduled for this summer. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t done anything wrong; it still feels scary to receive a document like that. It’s also irritating that there are attorneys who don’t seem concerned with handling situations like this in a way that makes sure there is as little anxiety as possible.

• I’m 4 months into a year-long memoir writing program. The second-guessing and desire to procrastinate are strong. Having outside accountability is a game-changer. I’m only pushing through because I know someone is expecting me to turn in a certain number of words every month.

Things I’m Thinking About:

• Sharon Hodde Miller’s post: “We cannot absorb everything that is done to us. We truly can’t. We can’t bury it, ignore it, or outrun it either. Until it’s dealt with, it’s going to come out sideways and harm people we love.” Okay, Sharon. I’m listening.

• One of my favorite podcasters hard-launched her relationship to the public, and I was so overjoyed (and so were thousands of others, based on what I’ve seen online) that I told my husband about it as if this were my IRL BFF! I can’t stop thinking about how hungry we are for joy and how sweet it is to see it embodied. Why is it making me teary?

• I stumbled across a Substack series about a particular missions/ministry group and it’s giving off red flags that are so similar to what we have seen with IHOP and Mike Bickle. I’m concerned for the young people who are involved.

What’s Happening This Summer:

A month or so ago, Lore Wilbert made an audacious ask. She wondered if anyone was interested in taking a break from social media for the summer. And would people be willing to do it if they had support? What if we did it together?

I was interested.

I’m tired of not being intentional about my use of social media. I’m tired of how I let the algorithm suck me in and how I lose hours of time with nothing to show for it. I don’t just want to consume things. I want to use my time and skills to create something.

I’m leaping into this summer-long experiment. For June, July, and August, I won’t be on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, or Bluesky. I know it’s going to be difficult. I’ve already started writing down all the questions I have and all the things I know I’ll reflexively want to post/reshare.

What will I do with the ideas I would have quickly reshared, liked, or posted? How will I keep up with the news. What news do I need to keep up with? What if I miss something?

I don’t know.

My biggest hope is that I’ll be able to use some of this freed-up space to do deep work. I want to do more long-form writing here and stay on track with my memoir homework.

Does this sound crazy? It might be.

How about you? What do you want to remember (or forget) from May? What are you thinking about? What’s on the calendar for this summer?