Do you hear the rumble?

The engine of Fall has started to rumble. Even though we are still smack in the middle of summer, our attention is towards the Fall. For Pete's sake, the first 'not really real' game of football is on TV today! Registration for classes is this week, people are leaving to go college, teachers are beginning to think about lesson plans. I am in high anxiety because the basement project is not done and the kids have no bedrooms. BUT...Fall is still coming and as much as I want to play the music really loud to drown out the sound of that engine...I can feel summer coming to an end. I am ready for the routine of school, the interaction with students and peers, the energy that teenagers always bring to the table. Nick is in the HS this year and Mijo is running the last of her laps. Her mind has already started with her life after HS and Nick is trying to figure out how to negotiate the halls and schedule in the here and now.

BUT...there are only so many summers and this one is coming to a close. I wonder if the speed of time is directly related to the growth of children . Time is visually recorded in the growth of our children and advancement of their schooling. Time for us is recorded on our faces, in our hair, on our bodies but only incrementally. Having another birthday does not bring new freedoms as it does for the younger humans. Another birthday means we have advanced another year towards that other RUMBLE we seem to hear more clearly with every extra candle we blow out. The rumble of getting older...

When I was young I those who were older were grand and awesome, wise and smart. I wanted to be them...I am getting to be them and I wonder when I will be all that. I do not want to be afraid of the RUMBLE...I want to embrace life is all its stages as I have in our children. I do not not understand the indignity of old age and the homes that hold so many. I sort of wish there was a button we could push to turn the engine off when we are done rather then having it sputter and linger on. I hear both rumbles clearly, one I anticipate the other I dread.