Is it the middle of August already?

Wow, where has the summer gone. Some of the kids are going back to school next week already. What happened to starting school after Labor Day like we did as kids? Okay, I'm showing my age. Even my kids started in August. I hated it. I was never ready for the routine of bedtime, homework, and teacher's meetings. Not that I can say I miss it. But I still hate this time of year. Hate that the kids have to go back to school. Besides, I know what comes next. Fall and cooler temps. I don't mind the cooler temps. In fact I love the colors of the leaves changing. It's what follows that I hate. Cold and Snow!!! At least that's what I have to look forward to where I live. Yet a part of me loves the changing seasons. And I even love the first snow fall. Everything looks crisp and clean and the crunch under your feet as you walk through it. And I even like a little snow for Christmas. But then it can go away for another year. Of course that's not going to happen. But this year, I've decided to look at the seasons differently. I'm going to enjoy each day as it comes, whether rain or shine, hot or cold.
We spend too much time looking ahead and not enough time enjoying the present. As youngsters, we await the day when we're adults, then we wait until we can get married, have kids, then we wait for the kids to take that first step, say that first word and finally we wait for them to grow and leave the nest.
Well, I can tell you, mine have all left the nest - quite some time ago actually, and it's not all its cracked up to be. Nope, I look back on those days and wish I had spent more time enjoying what was instead of looking for what was going to be.
So if you have little ones, enjoy today. Enjoy their first smile and don't worry about when they're going to walk and talk. That'll come soon enough and believe me, it goes by entirely too soon. I look back on those days that I thought were so difficult. Times were hard, there wasn't always enough money. But oh how simple life was then. Of course, I didn't know it at the time. But what I'd give to go back. Back to holding my babies on my lap and listening to those first sounds, looking at that first smile. But life moves on. It doesn't wait for anyone. What we thought were rough times - getting up in the middle of the night to feed a baby or tend to a sick child, those were the easy times. Watching the kids grow, having their own kids, what simple pleasures and looking back and remembering those days, that was the life. Now all I have are memories and life moves forward so much quicker than it did back then.
I'm not so very old that I can't still enjoy life. Infact, I'm still rather young by today's standards, so I'm going to take a step back and enjoy today, this hour, this minute to the fullest. Yes, Fall is just around the corner and after that winter. But that's okay. I'm going to enjoy having my windows open and I'll let tomorrow take care of itself.