Where has Summer Gone?

 Back in May I wrote an amazing plan for my summer.  Like, amazing.  And then somewhere between the last week of May and the first week of June things kind of changed.  I didn't even touch my to do list until the middle of July.  Now, here it is the beginning of August and I know it will go quickly.  Blah!  I'm really not ready to think about school yet or all the fall things like music lessons and youth groups.  I still want to check things off of my list and prepare for another great school year that would start in three months, not in one month!  

Sometimes life hands us unexpected things and that is one thing that happened this summer.  Our Homeschool Co-op went a different direction so several friends and I started a new Co-Op.  That was hard.  It was hard to walk away from something we had known and loved for so long.  It was scary.  Scary to let "our" members know that our leadership team felt we could no longer support the old group.  Scary to start our own group.  It was time consuming.  Instead of checking things off of my list, I was busy checking things off the list of starting a new group!  I spent hours upon hours prepping and reading and planning.  Whew!  We are thankful that our quick, thoughtful, hard work is paying off though and we are excited for the fall.  It's still work to create something from nothing but we have great support to do so and are feeling ready for another semester. 

Sometimes scheduling doesn't go as planned.  Our June started with a tough push to finish all things related to school.  The last two weeks of school were hard and full of a lot of work.  We checked off boxes, finished projects, and still worked hard on every lesson as both of my guys were working towards straight A's again this semester.  Then we had a week off - our friends weren't here, no school, no plans.  We all kind of needed to recover.  That was followed by a week of my guys at camp.  Then, finally, a week with all of us here and that week is always hard - our friends are kind of stretching to see how far they can push; my guys are not loving the fact that now they have "no electronics" time twice a day.  Once we made it through that first week things fell into a pattern.  That's where we are now except, our friends have been on vacation and then Nate will be gone to camp.  There has not been much routine to our summer that's for sure. 

So where is this post going?  Very simple, Time is fleeting.  We all know time goes more quickly as we get older (or at least it seems to do so) but I've really felt it this summer.  That makes me stop and ask myself -- What am I doing to make a difference.  A difference in my kids lives, my husbands life?  What my friends and other family?  Don't let the passing of time steal the moments where you can show kindness, joy, or lend a listening ear.  Why?  Because those are the moments that last forever.