Wow, that was fast.
Just yesterday it seems we were in the throes of town meeting season and now back-to-school sales are upon us.
If March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, then July arrives like a frat party in full swing and departs as the realization sets in that summer’s twilight is here. At the end of June, summer still stretches out before us, promising the good times will go on forever until doleful kid brother August shows up to announce the party is almost over.
Each year seems to go by faster than the one before it. This being an election year, the pace will remain torrid at least through the vote in November. The next thing you know, it will be the (ever-extending) holiday season, followed by ringing in a new year.
There is always a next thing; always and forever until there’s no more time for things. Against life’s dizzying background, current events especially seem to take on an air of vital importance. The busy nature of our lives can feel like trying to drink from a fire hose.
That may or may not be true, but either way the sun still rises each day as the tides continue their cycle. Each day’s dawn presents new opportunities, challenges, and decisions that we must make.
We say all this as a good reminder to take the time to slow down and enjoy the fruits of Maine’s summer, before it is too late. Take that family road trip, visit that seasonal restaurant, go explore that island you have always talked about, claim the rest of summer as your own.
After all, the coffee still needs to be savored, the newspaper still needs to be read, and the roses are not going to smell themselves. Carpe diem.
