Spent

There are few commodities better squandered than a sunny afternoon at the park. In our house we hold Annie Dillard's words, "Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you." as a mantra and a glorified excuse to righteously procrastinate. Today we soaked up the first of September's sun and noticed its shadows were a bit longer than yesterday's. Sigh. Summer is coming to an end.


Tomorrow they'll turn off one of our favorite fountains, so we splashed a little longer today. Already we're noticing a few reddish leaves, so we smelled more flowers. The chains of the swings don't yet bite with cold, so we made flight plans and soared till we were dizzy with delight. And before we know it our rolling hill will become a sledding hill, so we ran all the way to the top -- more than once.



These small gestures are a little like putting an extra quarter in the roller coaster ride known as Summer. We will miss her.