The 3W Podcast: Kasie Yokley talks about Maycember

Maycember is real, and if you’ve ever stared at your calendar wondering how 12 events landed in one week, we’re right there with you. We’re talking straight from the messy middle of the end-of-school-year sprint: field trips for every grade, sports banquets, award ceremonies, teacher appreciation, spirit days, graduation parties and the nonstop “friendly reminder” emails that somehow turn into “last call” overnight.

We also get honest about the emotional side. May isn’t just chaotic, it’s tender, because routines end and kids change right in front of you. One minute we’re proud and grateful, the next minute we’re crying in the carline or tearing up over seniors we don’t even know. We dig into why closures hit our brains so hard and how parenting a teen who’s suddenly gone all weekend can feel like a preview of bigger goodbyes ahead.

Then we shift into survival mode with practical, doable coping strategies. We share how we manage decision fatigue, why “good enough” meals count as a win and how micro breaks can keep you steady when you’re tapped out. For us, that looks like short daily prayer, letting go of perfection, and blasting a car concert loud enough to reset the whole day. If Maycember has you feeling behind, you’re not alone.

Subscribe for more real-life talk, share this with a fellow Maycember parent, and leave a review so more people can find us. What’s your go-to reset when May gets too loud?

Transcript

A Guest Free Maycember Check In

Speaker 0:07

Hey everybody, not sure if that got on there the first time. Welcome back to The 3W Podcast. This is a different one. Every now and then I will jump on here and just kind of speak to you directly, guest free. And I'm gonna do that today. Also, it has nothing to do with anything 3W related. I'm just in here being a business owner and a mom coming to you straight and live from May cember. I love and hate. I mean hate, I don't mean hate in the negative way, but I love and hate all things May cember. And I hope y'all got to catch my editor's letter, founder lover, email blast letter, whatever the heck you want to call it, that came out a week ago where I kind of like touched on May cember, but I just thought, well, I don't have any guests right now, um, because everybody is swimming in May cember. So we're gonna jump on here and just talk about it and speak to all the chaos on it. I have like a dozen plus pages of notes. So when I look down, I apologize. Also, I have super flat hair today and super stringy hair today because last night, when this comes out, it will have been recorded um a week before. But last night was my son, he's a sophomore. It was his last high school baseball game of the season. So it was really cold and wet and rainy and just miserable, to be completely honest. So I had to don the BHS baseball beanie again. And today was not hair wash day. So um this is what we got. This is what we're gonna roll with. So

What Maycember Really Means

Speaker 1:44

let's jump into it. Happy May cember. If you don't know, that is the combination of May and December. May cember. It is supposed to be young and fun and beautiful weather with all the craziness of ending of the school year, all the changes coming, also known as the December portion of May cember. So let's just jump into it. I personally thrive in May cember because I'm actually a very organized, shockingly. Don't come into the 3W office and look at my desk because it's not organized. But in every other aspect of life, I'm a very organized person with the calendar and the schedules and all those things. So I'm not your typical self-care person. I don't find the I don't find self-care for myself. My self-care comes from being with my family and my children. Maybe a massage every now and then. I don't find nails self-care. Um, I don't find a hair appointment to be self-care. We all have to have those things. Those are just like necessities for me, but it's not where I thrive. So I'm not a self-care human being, but I do take care of myself. So just call me a big giant hypocrite. It's completely fine. Okay, so let's let's jump into this. Even I already said that. Have you ever found yourself asking why there are 12 events this week? 12 or 50 plus events, non-profit, just nonprofit events in a month? Like that's insane. Why is there another sign-up form coming from your boss or a teacher at school? Or why am I crying in Carline? This is 100% guilty me for no reason. So last night I already spoke to you about this. Was my son played a baseball game last night and it was an away game. So I'm sitting in someone else's stands, and the speak uh the game ended, and the guy who comes over to loudspeaker was like, give it up for these 11 seniors that are they're never gonna play again on this field. And I'm sobbing. I don't know those kids. They don't even go to my children's school. I've never seen them hit a ball. I have no emo, no connection to these kids, and I'm bawling my head off because May cember. So if you ever feel like that, you're totally in the right place, and you can come have a cocktail with me any day. Okay. So I've already told you what May cember is. Every event is scheduled. In fact, my other son goes to a school where they send out what's called Tuesday notes. I read the email last night, and his school is kindergarten through, well, it's really pre-K, but kindergarten, we'll just for sake of argument, kindergarten through eighth grade, every grade in that school has a field trip this month. Could we not have spaced those out a little bit more? I mean, kudos to them for getting all the things done, but like every grade? That's a that's a logistical nightmare on administration, I would think. But y'all do you. That needs to subscribing to Mayce mber all in. Um it kind of just goes back to like, let's wrap up the whole year in three weeks, because nothing sounds better

The Event Pile Up And Theme Trap

Speaker 5:02

than all the things at one time. Think about it. You've got sports banquets, award ceremonies, teacher appreciation dayslash week, the week of Mother's Day nonetheless, which I'm not saying teachers don't need to be celebrated and appreciated, but it went from a day to now it's a week, the week leading up to Mother's Day nonetheless. And let's face it, all of us moms are the ones that handle all the teacher appreciation dayslash week. And then two weeks later we turn around and we do end of year gifts. So I my goodness, just it's so much. We've got dance recitals, we've got all the sports games ending-ish. Like, like my son plays on two baseball teams. So, like one season is done. Well, actually, they both ended, but like the varsity is gonna go on and continue playing. You've got graduation parties, and oh, just kidding, graduation, and because you got to have multiple parties for the graduate graduate, which I mean they all deserve, but I'm just saying. And then you've got the field trips I mentioned before as well, and then spirit weeks. I mean, who doesn't love a spirit week? I will absolutely tell you the school where my child goes, my youngest goes, um, their spirit weeks are pretty tame. They really only go all out for one week during a certain week in January. Other than that, it's pretty much donate to the food pantry, bring in stuff for the food pantry, and you can wear crazy socks. So I can get on board with crazy socks, but when you throw in disco cowboy with a side of me on at 9 p.m., I'm a little tapped out on that one. So it's okay. But unlike December, we don't really get in the feels of all things May and conclusions and those things. But we don't get in the like feels of warm and fuzzy because we don't have the twinkle lights. I mean, and who doesn't love twinkle lights around town from December? We don't have the Christmas tree, we don't have hot cocoa, I mean, all things that December brings us. And December also brings us pretend rest, right? So when the kids get out of school, then you get the pretend two-week rest break, even though as a parent, you're logistically trying to make both sides of the family happy and your children happy, and all the spirit and magic, also called lies, of Christmas come true. So there's that, but hopefully you get that. I really kind of decompressed between Christmas and New Year. So I I guess there's my pretend brick. Of course, all of this depends on what season of life you're in, right? I am in the season of life where I have a business, which 3W is 18. So my oldest is 16. So I mean, I did have a business two years before I had kids. So I've got an 11 and a 16-year-old, and I'm kind of in the thick of it. And I think anytime you have kids, you're in the thick of it. It doesn't matter if you're like just starting or if your baby is graduating and going off to college. You're all in the thick of it. And if this doesn't apply to you, you can just click out of it and that's totally fine. We'll see you in a couple of weeks when we have a guest who you're interested in. But um, this space is it's free for all the things. Um yes. So I'm sorry, that it truly just depends on what season of life you are in. And I hope this one adheres to you a little bit. Okay, so let's talk about the calendar. The calendar is your best friend and worst enemy at the same time. I'm not a color coder, but a lot of people are color coding and or they're having that, they're running it with their skylight and all the things. I think that is so great. I don't function that way. I am still put it on my digital calendar, but I also have to write it down. I have to have it in both places because inevitably one of them is missing one of the things. So that's kind of my backup. I also still love pen and paper. So guilty, guilty, guilty. Everything has a theme in May. So they say, I unfortunately love a theme. I love a theme of any party or any event. And I kind of get stuck in the weeds on that. And so why does everything have to have a theme, you ask? Because of neurotic people like me. And I apologize for that. I'm sorry, it's just who I am, though. And I can't help it. But I did just come from a meeting with a friend who said she was throwing her niece's uh graduation party, and the friend wanted a taco bar or the niece wants a taco bar, so she's ordered the card my yard and all the taco accessories and the taco bar and the signage and all the things. I was like, well, you have to have the balloon garland. Why did I do that? Why? Because balloon garlands are all the rage right now, and I just added more stress to her plate. I don't know why I thought I needed to do that. It just comes out. I've always been the speaker before you thinker kind of person. Um, so I'm really sorry that I said that you had to have a balloon garland, but I also think I'd look really good for your pictures, but that's okay. That's okay. You don't really have to, but that was rude of me. Let's not forget about the gazillions of emails coming in. Also, you still have a job. You still have a job, and that's okay. Let's thank God for that. You have a job. I wake up every day and I am so happy to have a job that gives me flexibility to participate in Maycember. But they can get a little taxing. They're not really taxing on, I would say I don't get that many reminder emails. I might get reminder emails to do my job, probably more than I get reminders to handle things with my children. But I do am getting a lot of reminders right now about signing up for soccer tryouts. So I love that it starts out with like friendly reminder and then final reminder. I love friendly reminder. It makes me laugh because I said I send that as well. And then last call. Like, come on, let's just just handle it. Just handle it. I know I don't handle a lot of things, but just handle it. So it just makes me laugh. Um, so I touched on this a little bit earlier. May cember isn't just chaotic, it's also emotional, but it's emotional for all the right reasons. And that's the positive side of May cember. I have always been a crier, but even more so after I had kids. And I can literally recall pulling up to drop off my then five-year-old nonetheless at pre-K, right? He was four going into pre-K and then he turned five. And I'm picking him up towards the like, we're just talking in May, not the last day of school, just in May of like

Calendar Systems And Email Overload

Speaker 11:58

bawling my head off, or just to go pick him up from pre-K. Like it's just it's all the things. And then, like I said to you, like that watching that baseball team, those seniors hug it out last night, like that got me. I don't know those kids, or like I have several friends who have kids graduating high school this year, and I'm in the field for them. And I really think I'm gonna need to be strongly medicated for in two years when my oldest graduates college. And I will say, this is kind of a new oh, this little hair is bothering me. Anyways, I will say um, having a child turn 16 and being gone all the time, I feel like that's gotta break you in or ease you into doing life without them. Yes, we're still showing up to all his games. I'm still sending him a gazillion dollars in memo every other day. We're still buying all the things for him and paying for all the things for him and loving on him, but he's not around. Like every weekend rolls around, he's like, I got plans sun up to sundown. And I'm like, okay, well, don't forget Mass is at 10 on Sunday. We'll see you then. We have family dinners on the weekends, it's just the three of us. It's just my husband and my youngest. And it's weird and it's sad, but this is what we raise our kids to do. We raise them, hopefully, successfully raise them to be amazing adults and to fly away. So I feel like even as emotional as I am, and I am just an absolute basket case, like 100%. But having a 16-year-old about to be 17 in a year, this is like your like lead-in phase. So embrace that because all chaos comes in May of 2028 for me. Um and I think that's okay. I am trying to come from a place for myself of like, it's okay, control what you can and move on. And don't let others interfere with your thought process. And it's all okay. I give it all up um daily in prayer. But that's just that's my feelings on that. Um May also brings the end of routines, right? Our kids have been at school for for nine months or whatever, like drop off pickup, shuffle the sports schedules. Did you pack the lunch? Did you sign the permission slip? By the way, all 400 kids in this school are going on a field trip this month. Did you do that? Then it kind of comes to a screeching halt. We've got summer, and I love summer too. Summer is my most favorite time. I do not like winter. I love summer, I love the heat, I love tan, I love sun, I love cheering my kids on in their sports. Like I love summer. So, but routines are ending, and that can also make us a little bit anxious. I have this theory as to why I'm so emotional in May, aside from just being a basket case. And um, it has to do with social media. I love people who love social media. I am absolutely guilty of the doom scroll. I'm not a giant poster. The minimal posting that I do do is to shout out my kids because to me it's a digital yearbook. I do not care for likes or loves or comments. I think they're all great. I'm not posting for them. I know a lot of people do, and I think that's great for them. That's not my space. I'm never gonna be a poster of get ready with me day in the life of I want to be that want to be that person, but it's just not who I am. So I use it as a digital yearbook and ways to go back and scroll and look at timelines. That's that's my headspace. But when I'm participating in the Doom Scroll, which I absolutely do do daily, I notice things happening around the country that make me anxious for being a mom and protecting my children. And I've done a lot of soul searching on this recently because I'll have a conversation with my mom and she's like, Why are you so neurotic and anxious? And I truly believe it is because of what I can get my hands on information-wise, that I see happening around the country to other parents. Because you know, the algorithms, things just pop up. If you

Why May Makes Us Cry

Speaker 16:20

pause too slowly on something, then it's going to show you a child being given his honor walk because he's going to donate his organs. Well, now I'm seeing that all the time because I paused on that. And so I think that's why I am so neurotic and anxious and emotional all the time about endings when it comes to my children. And I had this conversation with someone earlier, and um, we just completely agree that it's it might be the negative aspect, just simply for me, of social media, because I think social media has lots of amazing attributes to it. This is just the really small negative for me, but I mean, I'm still gonna doom scroll. Let's be real. I mean, I know who I am. All right, so back to mid-May. Mid May. This is survival mode. So do what you can to survive. I semi-thrive here. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not amazing at it. I think I just thrive internally on this. And I'll tell you why. I wake up every day grateful. I'm tired as crap. I'm not going to lie. I do Pilates four days one week and five days the next week. And my alarm goes off at 4 40 in the morning. A lot of people get up sooner than that, but that's okay. I never have been an early bird person, let alone an early workout person. But this is just kind of who I've become the last two years. And at 4:40 a.m., every day I snooze one time and I'm always up before the second snooze goes off. But I am tired, but I will lay there for a second and be like, oh, thank you for this day. I don't know what's ahead, but it's you've given it to me. So let's go take charge of it. Okay. So that's my little tiny prayer. And then if I see someone biking or running, oh, I always see a giant pack of runners on my way to Pilates every morning. And I'm like, good for you. Keep going. I always say that to runners and bikers that I think might need a little extra push. But um I am also, I also cuss like a sailor. I 100% love Jesus, but I totally cuss. And um yesterday morning was just, I was just having a day. Just having a day. If I picked it up, I dropped it. If I took one step, I tripped over it. And I went to make my coffee and I turned the coffee on, and then I promptly walked to go load the car, and I came back in to get my coffee, and I never put my coffee cup under the downspout thing. And so there was coffee literally all over the counter. And that's never happened to me in all the years of this coffee machine, thankfully. But I did not flip out, which is shocking because this is like I'm like a zero to 60 real fast kind of human. And I didn't flip out instead. And in the middle of cleaning it up, I think it was a God thing because I was like, oh, thank you, Lord, for giving me the patience to clean this up without an absolute meltdown or screaming lots of obscenities. Um I just, that's just who I am. That's just what I did. However, once I got finally everything clean and loaded up in the car, and then we drove to school, private Catholic school, nonetheless. I mean, I did Blair and have a car concert of Snoop Dogg and whoever else. I mean, gin and juice always gets you started in the morning. But um, I that's kind of like my peace of mind daily is definitely prayer, just spontaneous, very short. I'm not a long prayer. So very short snippets of prayer and car concerts, which my children love. And unfortunately, only my youngest gets to participate in car concerts anymore because the other is um driving himself. But I mean, I'm I'm a fantastic vocalist. So that's always fun. That's where I get my like angst and stress and anxiety out a little bit. So that was mid-May. Okay, then we have the emotional enroll cursor. I think I've already touched on this enough, but um, kids are finishing grades, people are graduating, routines are ending. We've already touched on all that, but there's so much pride with it that that adds emotionalness. And I think that's I love pride. I'm not a big horn tutor, I'm not a big accolade sharer

Doom Scrolling And Mom Anxiety

Speaker 20:50

in any shape or form, and until the end of the year. And so I think I have so much pride for all these children in all these communities that are graduating high school and graduating college that just go out and conquer the world. And um, I can't wait, I can't wait to see what they all do. But May is sneaky like that. It just kind of sneaks up and gets you in all your feels. So uh I just I they just think that's really, really fun. Um, let's touch back on. I'm jumping all around. I apologize. Apologize. So we're I just told you we were in survival mode, and I told you that's where I type I thrive on that. But um, and you don't need a theme. I mean, I love a theme, but you don't need a theme. So this is where you show up barely, and that's okay, but showing up is is step one. And it could be all 10 steps, so it's fine, but just grab something quick, which is very hard for somebody like me to do. It doesn't have to be perfect, also very hard for me to do because I love a theme. I love the package to go with the wrapping with the card. I The whole thing. So I have to take a backseat to my own neuroses, as you would call them. And and that's okay. Your meals get a little bit simpler in May, not gonna lie. I had popcorn and MMs last night. Let that sink in. I had ballpark popcorn and MMs. Plain MMs, shockingly. Um and I'm sorry to Hershey's, but that's just what they had carried at the snack bar. So um I had to partake in it. Um popcorn. And so I won't start back on the pop ballpark popcorn meal replacement diet, if you will, until mid-June when summer ball starts up. So um that was my meal last night and uh my husband's meal as well. The younger one stayed home and had McDonald's because May. Because May cember. The expectations get a little bit lower. And that that would lead to the simpler meals. Another positive is that everyone makes

Survival Mode With Prayer And Music

Speaker 23:08

it where they need to be, be it practice, be it the celebration, be it the school, be it the job, the board meeting, the nonprofit event. Everyone made it where they needed to be. Did they make it on time? Not sure. And that's okay. Or did they stay for the whole thing? Not sure. And that should be okay. But I'm gonna give you one example of why it's not okay. And I didn't think about it from this perspective, but being a last name that starts with a Y, absolutely, it hits home now. So I guess last night was an award ceremony for seniors at one of the local high schools. And as soon as people's kids' names were called and they went up and received whatever, people were leaving. And then apparently by the S's, the place was almost empty. So think about what it is gonna look like in a couple of years when you get to the Y. I mean, and I grew up a W and never thought I'd go down in the alphabet. And I went down to a Y. So oh my gosh, just y'all, I guess this award ceremony was like maybe an hour start to finish, which fine. We're all busy. I get it. Stay around, stay, stay, unless there's a family emergency. And I understand y'all have younger kids. If you've this is your oldest and you've got a younger kid, divide and conquer. But stay around and celebrate all those kids. They all did the job, they all deserve it. Don't just get up and bail, which I'm sure we've all been guilty of. But until some mom pointed it out this morning and I read about it, I never really thought about it. But you better be sure in two years, when I'm sitting in that award ceremony and it's empty because we're our last name is a Y, it starts with a Y, there will be smoke coming out my ears. Unfortunately, like I celebrated your kid who started with a B. You better be selling my celebrating my kid who started with a Y. So another soapbox moment. Why does May feel so intense? Like, why? It's the fifth month, it's not like it's the last month, but why does it feel so intense? You here's here's a good thought. It all stacks, it doesn't spread out, it stacks on top of each other, one after another, and it starts May 1st. I touched on this in my letter, and um this year, May 1st was on a Friday. So you had May, Friday, Saturday the second, uh, Sunday the third, and uh Monday the fourth. Oh, and then I mean you might as well keep going because it's Cinco de Mayo on that Tuesday. And who doesn't love a margarita or some tequila and chips and salsa on Cinco de Mayo, even though our weather was too miserable for it? But um, so it was like the beginning of the beginning of the beginning for May around here in Northwest Arkansas. Like kick it off on Friday, May 1st. There were so over 10 events just packed in the four days. Four days. That's a lot of events. Those are just nonprofit events, which is what right over here, huh? Wrong hand. That is what 3W excels at. Ashley covered most of those events, and we shared them out on our reels. That is, and it this goes back to what I'm saying. It's stacked on top of each other. May, not May, April had over 55, over 55 nonprofit events. I suspect next April, in April, uh, we're in 26, in April of 27, it will be a bit more spread out because Easter is early this year and it'll be in March. So the nonprofits will get all four uh weekends to plan their events instead of just being smashed into like basically two. So, I mean, good for them. Or three, whatever it is. But uh May stacks. So you've got everyone went strong the first weekend of May for nonprofit events because you can't do it the following two weekends because of Mother's Day and graduations. And I totally understand. So May has been very empty, but then you are sprinkling on all the events at night, the nonprofit events in the evenings, in addition to your sports banquets and your games and your award ceremonies. So it all is stacking on top of each other, and so that's a contributing factor as to why May feels so, so, so intense. Another reason, there's no built-in pause. The pause comes Memorial Weekend when you're supposed to be out on the boat, which you just pray for sunshine. And the pause starts also in June when the kids are out of school. There's no like cultural pause of like Christmas per se. There's no the again, there's no twinkling lights, there's no hot cocoa, there's no Christmas like tours.

Stacking Schedules And Decision Fatigue

Speaker 27:58

Does anyone really sing around a Christmas tree? Like, I mean, does anyone really do the Hallmark movie Sing Around a Christmas tree situation? If you do, reach out to me. I would love to have you on the podcast because that is so fun and so great. I don't do that. My family would look at me like I grew 10 heads. So I want to know. I want to know. But my point is there's no cultural pause in May. It's just hurry, go, go, go, and then Memorial Day and then summer. The decision fatigue is a little bit real, right? I mean, you're deciding on what events can I get to? What gifts do I need to buy for teacher appreciation? Day, teacher appreciation, week, Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, what have I forgotten? I don't know. Whatever. All the gifts. You're deciding on who's gonna get what child to wear, not where, but like logistically where they need to go. You're deciding on if you're in soccer, what clubs you're gonna try out for. If you're in I don't know how other sports work because I'm only a soccer and a baseball mom. If you're in baseball, you're just really in the thick of it. So you're not really making any decisions at this moment in baseball. Um, you're trying to figure out which events to skip. And also, while I'm saying the word skip, y'all can come at me for this. I have not been to many work nonprofit events this, we'll just say semester. I probably went to some in January or February, but I haven't ever since high school baseball season started, I've not been able to attend those. And then outdoor soccer season started simultaneously. And I'm out of, I've been out of town every weekend except for Easter for soccer. And that continues with the next two weekends. I only have my kids for 18 years. Well, I mean, I hopefully have them way longer than that, but I can only show up for their sporting events while they live with me for 18 years. I will be at their games. And I'm sorry if I'm not at your nonprofit event. Your event doesn't hinge on me either by any shape or form. You're still gonna go raise a gazillion dollars for your mission, and I will support you from afar by sending Ashley or other team members or getting clients there. I gave away a half a dozen plus tickets for events for the first, you know, the Templus events that we had the first weekend of May. And those partners were so excited to go to those events and sent me pictures from them. Like I love that because we're getting to share all the nonprofit events with the community, and that's what it's for. It's for you all. It's not just for me to go to, it's for you all. So uh nonprofits, you can come at me, but um, my kids are my kids, and I will be at your events when I can 100%. You might be deciding what to wear because that is a real decision. Like, what do you wear like today? When on this recording day, it has decided to be winter again in mid-May. And so I decided to spring up my winter wardrobe with winter white and a trench coat. And um, that was just the best I could do today. Um, we've already touched on the fact that closing chapters are hard and there's a closing chapter effect on our brains. But let's recognize it and love on it and embrace it and set it free. I mean, or not. I mean, that's just how I choose to look at it, but it's okay. All these feelings are okay and real. And just go with them. Just go with go with. I'm not a go-with-the-flow person, but I can tell you all to go with the flow. Uh, let's lower the bar. I'm also not a lower the bar person, but I feel like it's important to say my husband tells me I need to lower my expectation expectations all the time because I expect way too much of people in different facets. Like I fully expected my son's 16th birthday to go ironically the exact way it did, but I was nervous going into it about a week before going into it leading up to it, that he was not going to react the way I wanted him to. And I'll be damned if he didn't. He was so blown away and surprised, and it was absolutely everything I ever wanted. So while I sit here and say, lower the bar and lower your expectations, that might help you cope. That is not for me, but that's okay. It's all okay. Choose what matters most. It's kind of like what I just told you. Like I'm gonna choose my kids' events first, and then I will try to show up for the nonprofit events that are in the evenings. But you have a daytime nonprofit event, I'm 100% there. If it's during the work hours, I'm a hundred percent there. You lose me on a Thursday night going through Sunday, and I'm sorry, but you have to choose what matters

Micro Breaks Plus Embracing The Mess

Speaker 33:05

to you most. Um, build in micro breaks. Oh my gosh. Like it's like what I said to you. Have some daily prayer. You could meditate if you want to, and you're into that. I personally love a car concert. I'm not a ironically testing one, two, three. I'm not a podcast person in my car. I will listen to podcasts when I take my dog on a walk around the park, but I don't listen to him in the car. I've tried and um I don't exit when I should. So I've also tried the book in the car. Again, I don't exit when I should. And then I end up driving really slowly and causing problems. So I am a shout it, scream it, karaoke person in the car. Also, we should do a podcast on what your karaoke song is. Y'all should come at me and let me know what your karaoke songs are. I totally have mine. So you should always have a go-to karaoke song. But build in those brakes because those are my brakes. And as soon as I scream, um, ice ice baby from the top of my lungs, every lyric by the way, I feel a lot better. So it's just a release. Uh, give yourself credit. Give yourself credit for showing up. Give yourself credit for just being present in the day, making it meeting, making that return phone call, sending that email, sending that invoice, running by the bank, going by the post office, picking up a smoothie for yourself, or just simply being Carla and getting the opportunity to pick up your kid. That's an awesome opportunity. So find the joy in the little things and give yourself a break. Give yourself some credit. May is messy, it's loud, it's overwhelming, a little bit like me. I kind of think I'm a little bit too much, even for myself at times. Um, it's a reminder that life doesn't always slow down, but there will be a light at the end of the tunnel eventually. Just embrace the chaos. I it if you are in this season of life with the kids, this is a very short season in the grand scheme of things. So just sit back and embrace it. It's okay if you're running late, it's okay if you're drinking four-hour old coffee. I literally still have coffee sitting in my car. It's okay if you've reheated it up 10 times. It you're not alone. You're not alone. Um, you're just in May cember, and that's okay. And so I just wanted to jump on here and tell y'all to enjoy the chaos of May cember. I know it has nothing to do with all the things real 3W, even though we do have a lot of events in May and April as well. I'm sorry, my ear itches too. But um just enjoy, enjoy this ride because we only get this one crazy ride at a time and just enjoy it. I think that's about it. I probably rambled on way too long. And if I could really see the timers, I would tell you, but it's okay. Thank you for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed this little um pretend TED Talk that it's not at all. It's Kasie Talk on All Things May cember. Um, I love you all for listening. I love 3W Magazine for what it does for the Northwest Arkansas community. I love that we have all these nonprofits who buy into it, and I don't mean buy with money, but buy into it by being a cheerleader and sending us your nonprofit events so that we can put them all in all the chaotic events. I I love that. I love that Ashley is able to show up and cover these events and send you all your photos and whatnot. Um, I love all those things. I love my family. I love my kids' sporting events. There's more to kids and sports by all means. Um, but I do love being a loud, friggin'. I'm not that calm mom in the stands. If any of y'all want to see me, I'm full of fact. I am a little bit unhinged, a lot unhinged, and a lot like the LSU women's basketball coach, not gonna lie. Um, that's just who I am. So cheers to May, cheers to May cember, cheers to finishing strong or finishing period, right? Thank you for sticking with me this long. Don't forget, do not forget to stop by your local Walmart and pick up your Hershey Salty snacks because we're all living on snacks. We're all living on snacks. You definitely, definitely need Dots Home style pretzels in your car at all times. I just dropped off Pirate Spooty to my younger son's school for map testing snacks. And I dropped off Skinny Pop, as a matter of fact, and I had leftover skinny pop, and that quickly came home and into the car for us for all of our exciting nights on the road. So don't forget to stop by and pick those up. As always, thank you for supporting 3W. Thank you for hanging with me all this time and keep inspiring our culture of giving. Bye, everybody. See you in June.