Chewing on Summer

I’ve been trying to stay upbeat here and not take the dour end of summer route.

But I admit it’s starting to get to me.

As soon as a hint of fall weather drops in it’s hard to avoid.

I was watching a group of little kids at the beach playing in the water the other day.  Not a one of them gave any indication that in just about a little more than 2 weeks they would be back sitting at a splintery old school desk trying to locate that piece of gum they stored there last June.

As far as they were concerned the summer was still a work in-progress, without a discernible end in sight.

And that’s how we all were once.  A thousand years ago summer did seem to last forever, because we never ventured far from whatever perfect day we were immersed in at that particular flawless moment.

It’s one of the perks of kiddom, though being a kid we never knew it, let alone thought about it…you know, because of the perks.

Still, summers do end, even for a kid, and when it does, the more we’ve pushed off thinking of the inevitable, the harder it slaps us in the face when it does arrive.

“What…why didn’t anyone tell me school started last week!”

Or something like that.

But another kiddom perk is adaptability.  We take the slap and move on to the next perfect moment. Splashing in the waves becomes throwing a football 30 yards down the field for a touchdown.

As we grow up, summer endings become more frequent, and so we lose that benefit of moment to moment living and begin to dread, long before dread is necessary. 

All this serves to do is ruin all those still too perfect moments, fleeting though they are, instead of just enjoying them and storing them.

So I’ve been trying not to do that this year.

That’s what all the Pollyanna upbeat, positive “there still plenty of summer left” shinola I’ve been peddling lately has been about.

And I do believe that…but it’s just hard to feel it all the time, which makes a difference.

Baby steps….you know?

I’m getting there.

And then there’s what seems like a thousand butterflies buzzing around our butterfly bush at the moment, who are telling me to knock it off.

Even as I sit here, the cool morning air is warming, and the hint of fall still to come has been pushed back, for at least another day.

So that’s cool…or warm…or something.

Stay in the moment.

Think like a kid.

Happiness comes in small bites.

Take as many as you can…and don’t forget to chew.

Chew as long as you can….

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