Already?

I can’t believe another summer is nearly over! I know that time moves faster as we age, but this is ridiculous! At least this summer wasn’t like the one a couple of years ago. The one leading up to that late-August day …

… when a friend asked me, “How was your summer?” I was sort of dumbfounded because, I realized, I hadn’t even noticed that it was summer. I was in such a routine that I just moved from day to day without particularly paying attention to what season it was. I certainly hadn’t done anything to make summer different in any way, nothing specifically summer-ish. At that point, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that happen again. I have few enough summers left, I said to myself, I’d better pay attention to them! Since then, I’ve made a point of noticing that it’s summer—and that I live in Colorado, for Pete’s sake. 

But for the last few days, I've been coming to terms with another reality: the fact that noticing summer doesn’t make it move any slower or last any longer. Here we are, deep into back-to-school season, another summer drawing to a hazy close. As I write this, I’m enjoying the smell and the sounds of a classic Colorado late summer, late afternoon thunderstorm. It’s late August. Fall is around the corner. 

Signs of one more summer’s winding down:

Well at least this year I could answer my friend's question. “How was your summer?” she’d ask. “How long do we have?” I’d say, because this time I'd have tales to tell.