Rushing Through Summer at the Speed of Life

When you are young all you care about is that time moves fast because you want to be older but yet it seems to move so slowly.

You can’t wait to become a teenager, girls look forward to their “sweet 16”, all kids look forward to getting their drivers’ license and when you turn 21...well you know.  It seems like all these momentous occasions take forever and most young people are simply in a rush to get to all of them.

I’m not sure what the age was when I shouted for the first time PLEASE SLOW DOWN.  It’s clearly been a while and nobody is listening to me because time is flying by at such an incredible pace. It’s like a runaway freight train.

I admit to being consumed by the speed of life which seems to gain a few miles-per-hour every year.  It really hits me during the summer months, a time that I wish would creep along slowly at a snail’s pace.  I know you’re not supposed to use the word “hate” but I truly hate winter and it seems spring is not really a season anymore but just an extension of winter.

Finally it’s Memorial Day weekend and you feel alive and look forward to those long summer days and long summer nights.

And then like that it’s almost over.  It’s getting dark noticeably earlier, your kids might have already left for college, schools around here open in just two weeks.

I swear it was just a day ago that I was going to the beach for the first time and now I’m close to the last time.  I mean we actually have high school football broadcasts next week. How could that be?

If there was one thing I could say that would be heard by all of you under the age of 21 it would simply be don’t rush it.  All those milestone birthdays and moments are coming and believe me you will wake up one morning and wonder how it all happened so fast and what can you do to slow it down.  The answer is you can’t do anything.

So take a deep breath and smell the roses. Or if you prefer the salt air. Before long you’ll be digging out after a snow storm.