July

Today is July 31.

What a month July has been! It has been full to bursting. . . .

*Celebrating our freedom, which never gets old, and I pray never will.

*Teaching a full course at UNA in little more than three weeks: intense but successful.

*Lightning striking our house during an afternoon thunderstorm, melting the computer while I sat right in front of it, burning a streak from top to bottom of the huge poplar right off the deck, knocking off part of the deck in its anger, running through copper pipes in the house until it burned an exit, spending its energy in a second that seemed like an eternity.

*Cucumbers and squash perishing in the record heat. The tomatoes dug in and continue to fill out biscuits and salads.

*Sharing hurt and losses and joy and music with dear friends.

*Finding a new connection group full of strength and kindness.

*Watching granddaughters grow brown and tall as they soak up the summer.

*Enjoying music at Handy Fest, tapping our feet and fanning in rhythm.

It is bittersweet. With the passing of July, more than half the year is gone, moving so fast I'm just now becoming familiar with it; it will be gone, this year of our Lord 2010, this trip around the Sun long before I'm ready.

When July dies, so does the summer. We will have many more sweltering days and nights of hiding inside in our cooled micro climates, but our minds are now fixed on going back to school, buying clothes for the fall, marking our calendars for things far removed from slow days and nine o'clock daylight. And I am saddened at the passing, at the noticeable, unrepentant whirl of time that I can't stop, can't even slow down for just a little while.

But tomorrow....August! For our family, August will bring birthdays, a new school, a new house, some new adventures. It is all good.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecc. 3:1