Dona E. Bowens

Watching the kiddos at school prepare to be released for the summer, I’ve come to the realization that I’ve never broken out of the school-mode. What do I mean by this? I’ve been working for 37 years, and only during 10 of those years, have I had a job that required me to work during the summer. I’m doing the countdown to summer right along with the kids and slacking off in the final days as well. We’ve packed as much info into these scholars heads as we can reasonably expect this year, so let’s just leave the kids alone.

The seniors are a bit different. Kids who just a few weeks ago were itching to climb over the walls and be done with high school all together are now walking, tearful blobs of nostalgia. “This will be my last softball game,” one senior said to me with tears bubbling up in the corners of her eyes. I gave her the advice adults always give to young adults in these situations: Enjoy it. Take it all in. It goes fast.

Why is it that no one ever believes that it “goes fast?” But somehow we feel obligated to mention the speed of life anyway. I think we’re more so talking to ourselves in these moments. What we should be saying, while looking in the mirror is, “It’s going fast.” That’s what we really mean—we can’t believe how fast it’s going.

By some miracle of aversion to boredom, I don’t feel as if I’ve wasted my time. I usually achieve what I set out to do even if I prefer to spend my summers mostly staring into space listlessly. When I motivate, I motivate in a flurry and have some adventures along the way. Yeah, I’ve definitely had some adventures. And though it is going fast, I’m trying valiantly to squeeze in another adventure or two.