Dwindling Days of Summer

As the days of summer quickly vanish to just a dwindling handful of precious moments, I wonder where did the time go? How did time fly by in a blink of an eye? Remember when you were little? When the time before Christmas seemed like an eternity?  When the hands of time clicking on the round black and white clock hanging on the cement block walls of the school building never seemed to move? Ages passed before your half birthday arrived. And you had to count your half birthday because it took so long for it to finally become the halfway point to your next birthday. You could never just say you were 10 years old if you were 10 and a HALF.  Those distinctions were important because time seemed endless. The lazy days of summer were full of long hazy days spent playing in the lawn sprinkler followed by catching fireflies in a glass jar in the evening hours. I know the cliches, "Time flies" and "Your kids are grown before a blink of an eye" - but the cliches are firmly grounded in reality. It seems as though summer began yesterday. Our list of things that we wanted to do and the goals that we wanted to accomplish were fresh and new and seemingly attainable.  Now just a few days remain before school starts and our days of summer will abruptly end.  My oldest will be returning back to the Naval Academy. My younger daughter begins her last year of high school. The last year of junior high awaits my son. I think my whole family is feeling just a bit melancholy today as reality is quickly creeping up on all of us.  We have so much left that we still wanted to do and no time left to get it done. I think I will have to let all those "must do" lists go and just spend every minute we have left enjoying each other. Projects come and go. Life has a way of interrupting all the nice neat lists and ideas and goals - but isn't that the very definition of life? It is messy and not very orderly. Summer isn't about the items we crossed off on our list of things to do - but instead all the moments involved in between the items on our to-do lists.  The laughs. The hard work. The fun times. The late night dinners. It is all the little things that weaves the fabric of our days together. I want to make sure to make the most of the few moments we have left before life intercedes and separates us once again. I think I shall throw out the "to-do" list and make a new one.  I am going to put just one item on my list. Just one. My to-do list - "Enjoy".