I only enjoy breakfast once a year. That's not to say that I don't eat breakfast more often, but I'm the cold pizza/leftover chili type of breakfast-eater whenever I eat during breakfast time. But every year on May 1st, Rhode Island churches, volunteer firehouses, junior highschools, and Masonic lodges host May Breakfast.

By May 1st, winter's almost gone, leaving only an occasional frost to remember it by. Tulips have begun popping open, taking the place of the crocuses and daffies that couldn't wait for spring. Some of the earliest leaves are starting to sprout, and dogwoods and fruit trees are in bloom. You can tell that spring is due. Like most Rhode Islanders, it was waiting for May Breakfast all winter.

Citizens of the Ocean State wake up for their May Breakfast bright and early (well, maybe a little too early, since it's hard to not get a little gung-ho when you've anticipated May Breakfast for 364 days.) The coffee shops and diners go wanting for customers, because they've all filed into the local church's fellowship hall for a meal of baked beans, eggs, potatoes, ham, jonny cakes, and pancakes. Coffee and juice flow freely, served by aproned members of the church fellowship committee.

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The menu varies a little from group to group, but no matter where you go, they try to make you feel at home. Communal seating puts you "side by each" with your neighbors where you pass the maple syrup around the table and converse about property taxes and school plays and what you should plant this year. "Asparagus," recommends one senior citizen.

"Doesn't that take years to produce?"

"If you're going to set down roots, you should plant something that takes a while to harvest. You're investing in the future. Sort of like planting trees."

"Not only that," chimes in another neighbor from across the table, "they come up in early May. Fresh asparagus is one of the first things you can eat from your own garden each year."

No matter what you plant, it's time to do it. Rake the last of the wayward leaves, turn the soil, and proclaim to the world that it's finally time for spring in New England.

You know it's time for spring. May Breakfast has finally come.

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