Whirlwind

I feel like I've been on a bit of a whirlwind tour this summer.  It's been great - a little wild, fast paced and unruly at times, but what strikes me most is how quickly it has gone by.  I started back to "work" today.  Don't ask me why I put that in quotations, it is a part time job, really, but sometimes it doesn't feel like a real job.  I feel like just yesterday I was picking the kids up from the last day of school and here we are back at it again.
I'm thankful to be returning to some structure, to have more stimulation for my brain that is adult and feels like it is making a difference in the community at large.  We all make a difference every day, in big and small ways.  Anyone who is raising kids, or playing a role in the lives of young people, has a great potential to make a difference.  Some days it is absolutely enough for me, and other days I can taste a longing for something else, intelligent adult conversation that you don't get enough of when you are herding children or referee-ing for them. 
We have played hard this summer, taken lots of weekend trips, gone on a couple of adventures and just generally embraced the season of it.  I did a yoga retreat last weekend that was about quieting the nervous system, intended to help us make this transition from summer's frenetic pace into a quieter season.  It felt fantastic, it was slow and gentle.  Yet, I find myself not quite ready to slow down, to spin out of the whirlwind, we are headed to play some more this weekend.  Everything has a time and a place, I suppose, and the time to jump out of vacation mode is not yet for me.  We think of vacation mode as one that is laid back, which in ways this summer has been.  I have felt more carefree and spontaneous than I can remember being in many moons.  I think life will actually take on a more even rhythm, a slower and steadier pace come fall and I welcome it when it comes...I'm just not quite ready...yet.