Newsletter: May 1, 2006
It never fails but when this time of year rolls around, I always start thinking of summer vacation.
I'm not talking about the week or two that most people get from their jobs, but the seemingly endless
three months that you got when you were in school. Of course, I never really did all that much with
all that time off because I was a kid, which meant that I didn't have the means or the ability to
get very far from home. Even so, I do have a common memory from all those summers off and that is
how incredibly fast all that time used to slip away. One day, it was June and you were celebrating
and before you knew it, school was starting again in September!
It has been a long time since I was in school, but as summer rolls around each year, I do get caught
up in that same feeling. Time plays a trick on you as you get older though and the difference now is
that I have the ability to do travel or get away, but not the freedom. It kind of makes you wonder if
all that we valued as kids was just the time away from school or the absolute freedom that came with
being young and lacking in responsibility.
The injustice of time and possibly of wisdom is that by the time you recognize and value those moments
in life that are important, you have missed a great deal of them! Most of us don't have the summer
off anymore, but we do have moments and experiences that are incredible. From talking with many
people lately, I've found that the happiest people are the ones who consciously recognize those
important times and who don't let them pass by with the speed of a summer vacation. Most of
these people have some really tough experiences in their past, but they can still tell you with
clarity the good moments that made it worth the journey.
Lately, I have been talking to people about the important events that have shaped their lives and
many of them have some interesting stories to tell. The one common element in most of them is the
fact that the good times always seem to go by pretty quickly. What you fail to realize as a kid is
that it wasn't just the summer months that went by quickly, but ALL the months passed with the same
speed. Even though a sleepless night might seem to last forever, it rolls on by with the speed of
the night you spend with your greatest friend. Most people look back and have a hard time thinking
that time hasn't sped past at a pretty quick pace.
What I have gathered from this is that somewhere in between the kid on summer break and the adult
with all the responsibilities is the happy person who recognizes the good times around them. If time
is going to go by so fast, it's probably a good idea to pay attention to the moments and people that
are important instead of looking to the future for what could be. It's different for everyone, but
the important moment could be a great conversation with an old friend, an adventure to a foreign
place, or an extra moment in the wake of a beautiful girl's perfume.
It's all a matter of perspective and as easy as it sounds, this summer will come and go with the
same speed that it always has in the past. The kid in me is excited based on the conditioning from
so many summers past but I'm hoping to slow it down a bit this year. Time is going to fight me on
this one, but it might just be that I'm a bit smarter than the kid I used to be! Have a good summer
break everyone, and I hope you all find the moments that make it memorable!
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