a week in pictures

Having just tucked in an exhausted seven year old who, midway through her bowl of ice cream--piled high with every topping available at the church ice cream social--started complaining of a stomach ache, then sobbing in despair because she couldn't finish her exquisite ice cream sundae, then wailing in protest as I led her to the car to go home, I am thinking maybe the arrival of school next week isn't such a bad thing.

I mean, this is what happens when a girl has a sleepover with her best pal and stays up half the night giggling. The next day is a bit of a wash. And this is what happens to me in late August: the relish with which I approached the open, unscheduled days of June has given way to a quiet desperation for structure, routine, and regular sleeping and waking hours.

 

But then I was looking through these pictures from last week (spent with dear friends at two beautiful spots in the Finger Lakes: Dutch Hill Farm and Taughannock Falls State Park) and it hit me: time is passing! Too quickly! Can we go back? There were so many sweet moments (plenty of tough ones too) and even as I look forward to the school year's arrival, part of me mourns the children we had, the family we were, in the middle of August 2012. Do you ever get hit with that feeling, squarely in the guts? This is it. This is the time. We will think of long brown legs in summer, shrieks in cold lake water, cartwheel practice on the lawn, and we will yearn for who they were then, even as we marvel at and adore the people they will have become.

Enough anticipatory nostalgia! It is time to let the pictures speak for themselves.