We
find ourselves once again in the ‘dog days’ of summer (the hottest part of the season).
It appears to have come early with all of the record number of 100 degree days
thus far. But like it or not, it’s here.
I don’t know about you, but each season has
a way of stirring images in my mind. Fall brings visions of multicolored trees
and cool nights where we play football or huddle around a campfire and share stories. Winter brings memories of giant snowflakes gently falling to the
ground and creating those pure white landscapes and peacefully quiet evenings.
Spring reminds me of new life as buds sprout on tree branches and plants break through
the soil to bring various shades of green back into view. And Summer always
takes me back to those long hot days where I would spend untold hours out in my
neighborhood as a child playing sports or exploring my world.
Summer also brings this question to mind, why
did summers appear to last forever when I was a kid? The days seemed to go on
and on. Growing up, I remember adults talking about how time flew by, but it
was an experience that was so foreign to me…until now. I don’t mean to come
across sentimental or nostalgic, but I realize the brevity of it all. As I grow
older, time seems to race by unlike those slow summer days when I was a child. Now,
days seem to go by in moments and months seem to pass by like weeks. Before I realize
it, another year has passed and I wonder where it went.
The other day, though, I chose to stop and
take a few mental images. I call these ‘snapshots.’ I was playing music with my
children, my oldest son on the drums; my oldest two daughters on the guitar and
piano while I played guitar as well. The rest of my children were in the room
with me just enjoying the music and each other’s company (from my 19 yr. old down
to my 1 yr. old). And I found myself just taking mental pictures of it all. As I looked at each one of them, I thought to myself, “There are only going to be a few more moments like these. Pretty soon
they’ll move out and marry and have jobs and families of their own, and these
moments together will become rare.” Maybe
this is a result of my own realization of how quickly my childhood years
passed. But whatever the reason is, my advice is simple, don’t waste it!
Too often we spend the majority of our time
on the things that ‘scream for our attention’ but are just not that important while
the opportunities to spend time with the most precious people in our lives diminishes.
We should be unafraid and unapologetic when it comes to organizing our time and
lives so as to not regret our choices later on in life. Today, I’m choosing more
of these musical sessions with my family and taking more mental images (as well
as actual photos) so that I can reminisce about them when they’re gone. And I invite
you to do the same. Don’t allow jobs or people to dictate to you how you are to
spend your most precious commodity…your time. Life is short, invest what you
have left wisely.
I’ll leave you with some wise words from that famous
teenager, Ferris Bueller, “Life moves
pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss
it.”
