BY DESIGN
My memory of childhood and youth are fading like gazing into the rearview mirror of that V-8 powered ’70 Mercury Cyclone with me pushing that pedal so hard I was bending the floorboard. Maybe that’s what happens when you’re in too much of a hurry to grow up, a problem I hear isn’t uncommon to us babies of the family.
There’s something about summer that makes me reminisce. I think about the season of watermelons and seed spitting contests. The season of summer that was more magical than Disneyland itself. The Boy’s of Summer time, the ping of the aluminum bat. And me trying to steal home base in the championship game, but getting thrown out at home plate by a kid named Franky McGill who threw as hard as Don Drysdale that ended the game…
But it was summer, so that made it okay, besides, we were having fun, me for darn sure. That was back when playing was more important than winning, before winning meant everything. Those were the days of summer before girls and women tied us up and twisted us in knots.
Time is different for children. God designed it that way. He doles out time to kids like a cool glass of lemonade that pours like honey. And we savored the time… but that time is passed.
So I remember the long days of sunshine, the jumping off cliffs and roofs into shallow pools, hitchhiking to the lake, racing buddies through the hot sand high stepping the water as it got deeper until it was time to dive into the coolness of the dammed up Colorado River water. I recall to remind myself that it’s not as it once was.
image courtesy of halo.com
Time has now yanked me to the other side of the equation. It seems like we just had Christmas… but the year is almost half way over. The watermelons are mostly seedless now… and hand cranked ice cream makers are antiques.
I think of times gone by to remind myself to yearn to “… teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” The days of youth weren’t filled with wisdom, mostly the exact opposite. So I also think of the grace that comes from God above that still finds me lacking wisdom, but granting forgiveness.
I know this summer will be gone in a blink. The summers are stacking up like old newspapers.
Slip and Slides are fancier now, but still pretty much the same. My aged eyes watch my grandsons try to run on the Slip and Slide… I knew it was just a matter of time before both of them ended up on their butts. Slip and Slides are still only as soft as the ground underneath them. They laugh it off and keep going. This summer is going to be an eternity for them, but it won’t last. Time outlasts all of us, by design…
Monday, June 24, 2019 @ 9:02 am
What a delightful read! It took me back – to when the days just dragged on – and there was time to waste like water spilling over your hands from the hose. Now, time flies down hill catching up speed until, like you said, it was just Christmas! I will admit – those water slides don’t change – but it sure is a lot harder getting up when you fall on them!
Monday, June 24, 2019 @ 11:09 am
Watching your grandsons on the Slip and Slide sounds delightful. We’ve been watching our granddaughter enjoy her first trip to the beach this week, hopefully the first trip of many summers to come. I know time seems long but it sure is short.
Monday, June 24, 2019 @ 6:24 pm
It seems each year of age I gain the faster time goes. I have let many things go in light of the realization that my time here on earth is getting shorter. As my mother use to say, that dirt will be there when I am dead and gone so why sweep it. I want to leave good memories of laughs and good times instead of how clean my house was. Good post brother.
Monday, June 24, 2019 @ 6:34 pm
Time for you to take out the ice cream machine and spend some time with the grandkids showing them the sweet reward of making homemade ice cream. Make a day of slip and slide and churning cream in to goodness! These are the memories they will hold dear.
Monday, June 24, 2019 @ 8:48 pm
I know what you mean. I can’t believe I am as old as I am, and I often wonder where the time went. How did life go by so fast? I try to savor and cherish the moments, but while I am trying so hard to hold on to them, they slip right through my fingers. It makes me sad. We just have to make the most of what time we have left on this earth and hope we are making a positive difference along the way. God bless you, brother.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 @ 3:45 am
Ah, Floyd! You always conjure up vivid images for me of scenes from my own childhood. I love walking down this road of memories with you. Keep writing!
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 @ 5:29 am
Floyd, your writing truly reaches my heart. It took mine back to those long hot summers growing up in Florida, doing a lot of what you did; eating home churned ice cream, spitting watermelon seeds, endless hours playing in the lakes. What I’d give to go back just for a day to fish, or hunt, with my Dad, taste Mama’s incredible made-from-scratch ice cream, or play in the water with my sisters and brothers. It seems like that was just yesterday!!
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 @ 11:36 am
How this took me back to those long, gracious summers as a child, Floyd. Yes, time certainly speeds up the older we get, and it seems we have to make the effort to slow down the moments fleeing by us all too quickly. Think I’ll make days for myself this summer to simply sit and be.
Blessings!
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 @ 11:46 am
Loved this post, Floyd!
Thursday, June 27, 2019 @ 6:28 pm
Ah, there is nothing like the feeling of waking up on the day of summer vacation! I still catch a whiff of it every now and then but those feelings are few and far between… I wonder if that’s a taste of what heaven will feel like?
Saturday, June 29, 2019 @ 12:26 pm
Every once in a while i catch myself thinking back to my summers of innocence, before time and age and responsibility became an active part of my life. UGh! Thanks for the throwback Floyd. Sure was a different time and era wasn’t it?