Summer's gone

Summer is coming to a close, and as usual I am left shrugging my shoulders and wondering "where did the time go?" As a child summer used to seem to last an eternity. Long humid Wisconsin days, all running into each other, never ending. Has summer gotten shorter or is it just another inevitable consequence of growing up?

Next week Zack will be a first grader. I have an elementary school age kid and I can't understand how it happened. I swear to God he was just toddling around the mall charming everyone with his babbling. My baby. On Monday I will take him off to school with this backpack and his lunchbox and give him over to his teachers and to the world. A baby no more, Zachary is growing up. He will learn math this year, have homework, write book reports and take several million more steps towards becoming his very own person. It's exciting, but a part of me wishes we could have held on to summer, and his babyhood just a little bit longer.

It was a good summer, all things considered. Due to my ankle injury we didn't do everything I had hoped we would, but we did a lot. There were hot days at the amusement park, getting drenched on the water rides, there were picnics and beach days and many, many moments where I looked at my family and thought "this is what is all about."

And now we move into fall. Zachary in first grade, Evan a precocious preschooler, and Julian, my last toddling little baby. Autumn will be gone as quickly as the summer past, and the year will tumble by, giving way to more change and scattering behind so many lovely memories.