It always seemed like summer went by so slowly when I was a kid.  School would get out and we settle into a pattern of baseball games, a trip to the beach or two, maybe a big trip to Disney World, and figuring out ways to pass the time.  As an only child, I got quite good at throwing a ball against the side of the shop and doing what I thought were awesome tricks on my Haro bicycle.  In actuality, I was pretty terrible at the bike tricks, but in my head I was the raddest guy around.  I also remember when the Disney Channel would show classic Disney cartoons and classic live-action movies.  The magazine for the channel would come and it had the schedule in it and I would look through to find out when things like The Parent Trap or The Apple Dumpling Gang would be on.  Now, I feel like I have to monitor what the girls watch on Disney…As I got older, summers started to go a bit faster.  Eventually, I had to get a job and that made summer speed up even more.  Still, though, the days were good and I thought it would always be that way.  I never believed the adults who said to enjoy the time because it goes faster the older you get.

I find myself telling Lucy and Ethel the same thing now.  They complain about camp, about being bored, and about going to the pool (among other things).   And I say,”Enjoy it, it’ll be over before you know it and you’ll be back in school.”   When did I become my dad?  It is nice that school has started back and we can settle into our school-year routines.  But Summer, where did you go and why did you go so fast?  I feel like I blinked and it was gone.  Honestly, though, I feel that way about the girls’ entire childhood to this point.  Summer started strong.  I got to go to Chicago for the first time and I loved it.  Catching a Cubs game at Wrigley was cool, we ate well, and the lakefront was gorgeous.  We spent lots of time at the pool.  Yes, we were there for swim practices and meets.  We were also there enjoying our friends and listening to live bands.  We took at spur-of-the-moment trip to Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July.  What possessed me to play chicken in the ocean with Lucy on my shoulders, I’ll never know.  But they are finally no longer sore and she had a blast.  Watching the fireworks from the balcony was cool.  Lucy went to girl scout camp during the hottest week of the summer, but she survived.  And of course, in August, there was Hawaii.  And then, done.

I am having the realization that I have fewer summers with Lucy at home ahead of us than we do behind.  I guess that is the whole point.  When you are a kid, that one day is all that matters.  When you are a parent, you understand a bit better that time is finite.  Because of that we work, we plan, and we hope that we are giving our kids good experiences.  There are no do-overs for those summer days.  Lucy has begun her last year of elementary school.  Ethel is in second grade.  Too soon, they’ll be gone and all I’ll be able to say will be “man, that was fast.”