May Day has come and gone without celebration in my part of the world. Time was that it was a big celebration with May Pole dancing, May baskets left on doorsteps, all gone now, overshadowed by a clogged calendar by which we are paid, billed, birthed, etc. The loss of May Day is barely noticed, and given how many calendars there are, that’s no wonder, although Chinese, Jewish, Gaelic calendars get little respect in the world of business, school schedules, and family birthdays. We are so accustomed to the ubiquitous Gregorian calendar popping up on our phone or laptop that we assume it’s the only one.

 Think, too, how we mistake the natural seasonal changes that mean much more than a number on a screen, on the nightly or morning news. For one thing, the sun does not set or rise. The sun stays put. Earth whirls us into and out of the light we call dawn and its absence that we call dark.  But if you have a deadline, you’d best honor the date as set, pay the bill, submit the manuscript, and send your mother a birthday card, but know that our reality is not always real. But of course, we always have fiction, and isn’t that a good thing?