Happy May Day to you, !

Will you be dancing around a Maypole with colorful ribbons this weekend? Maybe doing a little gardening to mark the mid-point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice? Or, will you be more like me, and celebrate the warmer days by buying yourself some flowers?

The village I live—the one that Lily Valley from First In is closely based on—was a mining village for 100 years. It was the most productive copper mine in the British Empire at one point. And, it used to have a population ten times what it is today, which is under 400 people (with about the same number of dogs!).

For over seven decades the community held a Maypole dance every year. The photo on the left is from 1926 and the one on the right from the last year anyone danced around the "Lily Valley" Maypole, 1975. Looks like a ton of fun!

Does your family or community have a May Day tradition? Have you ever danced around a Maypole?

I'm considering having a Maypole in one of my upcoming books... if you share your story and give me permission to use it, it might just become part of Lily Valley's history!

May-December relationships

Have you ever heard the expression, "a May-December romance?" It's a relatively new one to me. It means that one person in the relationship is in the spring of their life while the other is in their winter.

I have a couple of close friends who have May-December marriages, where the man is 10-15 years younger than the woman. My ex-husband is a December to his May wife.

And those relationships are all healthy and stable.

But when I started dating again at 40, after a 14 year marriage, the thought of being involved with a man in his twenties was horrifying to me! Not because I thought a 26-year-old man wouldn't meet my high standards of maturity (🤣), but because I couldn't imagine why a young man would ever want to stick it out with a woman who might start to look more like his mother than his wife in 15-20 years.

This last week a friend recommended an Amazon Prime series she's recently binged. It's called Younger and it's about a 40-year-old woman who fakes being 26 to get a job in publishing, an industry that has serious age prejudice.

Comedy and a romance with a 26-year-old tattoo artist ensue. The episodes are only 20 minutes long. They're like those tiny bags of Halloween potato chips—you think, "I have 20 minutes to watch one episode" and next thing you know it's 11pm and you've watched a whole season... just like those two-bite bags of chips. Who can stop at one??

One thing I love about the show is how confident the 40-year-old pretending to be a 26-year-old is. She makes me kick myself at how insecure I was at 40.

So I'm wondering... are you familiar with any May-December romances? Had first-hand experience? Your stories inspire me and the ones I want to write!

A few authors you might enjoy

I hope that you get to smell some flowers this weekend. On our dog walk around the 'hood last night the lilacs were sharing their glorious scent. This next couple of weeks might be my favorite time of year just because the air smells so lovely after a long wet winter.

love & MayDaystuff,

Danika

xo

PS—Amazon Prime seems to be offering a free 30-day trial right now... so if you want to try out Younger, I'm certain you could finish it before the trial runs out!