March

March is my favorite month of the year.

My birthday falls in March. And every year it is another chance to take stock, to remember with gratitude all that has been, to marvel at how quickly a year progresses and to ask myself if I have become the person I wanted to become the year before and if I have spent my year growing up and not just growing older.

March is the busiest time of a school year. Companies have their fiscal years and the Church as its liturgical year, but in Philippine schools, the year ends in March. We tally scores and compute grades like crazy. We run after requirements and hold our breaths until graduation. We sit staring at class records wondering if the numbers are right and if it will benefit a child to spend the summer in summer school. It is undoubtedly an exciting time.

March is time to say goodbye, to let go of students who have made indelible marks in my life. It is a time of questioning if I have done the best I can and if I have not shortchanged anyone. It is a time to share in the triumphs and lessons (sometimes masquerading as defeats) of the children under my care. The great thing about teaching is that every year, I get a new chance, a beginning and at the end, I get closure. Even if sometimes, that closure brings tears.

My temper runs high in March-this part, I don't like so much. I think it's because I'm at my most stressed out and tired state. Now that I'm going back to school, as well, I have twice as many things to do-papers to catch up on and deadlines to run after and suddenly, when things don't go my way, I have less patience to deal with it. But even that doesn't get me down for long.

For my favorite thing about March, is that it brings with it the smells of summer. As I write this, I lick my lips in anticipation of the salty sea water at the beach. I find myself window shopping for bathing suits and thinking of songs that I can play at the beach to complete the mood. Even if I never make it there this year, the idea of going makes all this summer heat bearable.

March is like that last step off a port or on the tube of an airport before I jump off into worlds unknown or places I've dreamed of the rest of the year. March brings with it the promise of lazy days in bed and not caring whether I spend all day in my house clothes. It brings with it memories of vacations with my parents and sisters and friends to places where every thing is new and fresh and exciting-even if it entails a three-hour bus ride or a twelve-hour layover. March is that beautiful time of the year where everything finds its end and its beginning. With one foot in the past and the other in the future, I find myself holding on to the present with the broadest smile on my face.

Yes, March is my favorite time of the year.