Summer is so short these days! When I was a kid, our summer break stretched out like fresh bubble gum, with seemingly no end or breaking point. Three months to a child was like an eternity filled with possibilities with only a few planned activities sprinkled in. We did swim team, visited our cousins in Ohio, occasionally went camping, and stayed home while our parents worked. By the end of summer, I remember being more than ready to return to school, feeling rested, relaxed, and ready to pick up the energy with my friends!
As my daughter has entered elementary school in the last few years, I’ve learned that the school schedule has taken over summer break. My precious daughter barely gets nine weeks off and it passes by in a blink! We have time for a flurry of swim meets, her gymnastics practice, and two camps, and the rest is getting ready for the new year.
Before you even get a chance to catch your breath, summer is gone!
I’d be tempted to say that my own perception has skewed space and time as I’ve aged. Maybe time means something different to me now? Summer seems to flit away since I’m the adult, creating the summer magic for my child? I admit that is likely part of it, but I feel that the time has also shortened enough to be too constricting.
Even the summer camps and programs seem to struggle to fill those precious hours efficiently. As I looked into activities and programs that might entertain and educate my littles, I realized many were falling too early or too late for us to participate. So, surely this means that summer has shortened enough that even the camps haven’t caught up yet!
All this to say, we’ve barely managed to work into our schedule a few things we want to do, with those things we have to do before school starts again. I wish we could get a few more weeks to revel in family time, to create those wonderful summer memories that percolate in one’s heart and soul for a lifetime.
