It's All Happening

It's September 1, which means a (partial) month of JP's senior year already has slipped away.  In spite of my best intentions to slow down and savor my last year with him at home, it seems like the opposite is happening.  Everything is moving faster and faster.  

One cross country meet in the books.  Two football games - both MBA victories - with the season well under way.  An official visit to another school, with more visits planned.  A deposit due for the Ireland trip after graduation.  Homecoming plans.  

As Penny Lane said in Almost Famous (2000), "It's all happening." 

Indeed, it is all happening and I am utterly powerless to stop it, or even to slow it down.  To be honest, that saddens me more than a little.  

I'm struggling with finding a way to balance a busy, busy professional life and familial obligations with my overarching desire to slow down - to stop and smell the roses, so to speak - during JP's senior year at MBA.  All I am able to do at this point is steal a few quiet moments, here and there, to contemplate.  To smile as I remember.  To be sad at the thought of a house without JP in it.  To be thankful for the 18 + years I have spent with JP under the same roof.  

To sip my coffee, like I am this morning at Honest Coffee Roasters, lost in thought as I try (and fail) to understand how quickly I went from rolling JP though the neighborhood in the Baby Jogger City Elite stroller to visiting colleges with him.  Time is fleeting and always, always ephemeral.  It's more valuable than money.  And, of course, there's never enough of it.

Morning cross country workouts to beat the heat.  Weight lifting for strength and maintenance.  Catholic club meetings.  Honor Council meetings.  Football games.  Dinner and a movie with a new friend.  Telephone calls and text messages with college coaches.  College visits.  A quick run to the pool at Seven Hills.  And, of course, homework, and studying for quizzes and tests. 

It's all happening.