Please Slow Down, Summer

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 what that means.  It seems like these milestone occasions take forever and most young people are simply in a rush for all of them to take place.

I’m not sure at what point in my life I shouted for the first time PLEASE SLOW DOWN.  It’s clearly been many years 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 home during the summer months, a time I wish would creep along slowly at a snail’s pace.  I know you’re not supposed to use the word “hate” but I simply hate winter and it seems like in recent years spring has simply become 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, practice is underway for fall sports, and schools open in a couple of weeks.  I swear it seems like it was just yesterday I was going to the beach for the first time and now I’m getting closer to what will be the last time of this season.

Yes, I know how nice September is but once Labor Day comes my beach time is pretty much done.

If there is one thing I could say that would be heard by all of those 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.

From experience I can tell you that answer is you can’t.  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.