Summer 2013, in the rear view

For some reason, more than any year in recent memory, I recall more people over the last month commenting on how fast summer was going, and now how fast it has GONE. Yeah, it's pretty much gone. The true marker that it's for real is that the girls start classes again next Wednesday. Another sure sign is that our cars are parked in the garage more often on weekends instead of trekking elsewhere.
But no matter how you feel about this most recent edition of relatively warmer months, you undoubtedly feel a bit like I do. 
Bittersweet.
There are tons of things I love about fall, school starting up again (I'll start being on time to work again once the girls have a bus deadline to hit) and even winter holds the promise of more family time, skiing, etc. But I feel a bit forlorn when I realize the daylight is getting shorter and my time spent in sandals is dwindling. But I wanted to reflect, before another set of memories fade a bit, to write about the adventures the girls and I had this summer.
We blasted out of the gate back in May, even before the girls were out of school, with trips to Michigan for Mother's Day and the Fifth-Third River Bank Run in GR, Door County for our Memorial Day/Addie's birthday tradition, and I tackled the Tough Mudder with a great group of friends from Heartland. Actually, it tackled me, as you may recall seeing in photos from the "electroshock therapy" obstacle. That was something else...
The girls enjoyed another summer of YMCA camp and the various field trips, pool days and fun with friends. Ann broke away for a girls weekend in NOLA with her two wing women, as they call themselves, and another weekend in Philly for the YMCA general conference. We did the Fourth of July weekend in Door County again as well, with the Neimans and Gallaghers, something that has quickly become a really fun tradition up there. 
But more than anything this summer, I tried my best to spend time with the girls. Slow it down a bit, and really enjoy doing summer with them. I began thinking about my connection with them anytime we would go swimming together. I recall how desperately I wanted my mom and dad to pay attention when I did ridiculous stunts off the diving board, or tried to hold my breath underwater when I was a kid. They're attention was really all I wanted... now it's my turn to pay attention. It's not always the easiest thing when you're on the pool deck with friends or family, often with drink in hand, to pay constant attention to every flip, dance move off the board, or ballet move in the water. But I did my best. I lost a little steam towards the end, like last weekend at some friends' pool when I declared the first hour of the pool party was reserved for "daddy time" on the pool deck and that I would join them for some cannonballs in the deep end when I had sufficiently relaxed. And I made good on it, adding a few head-first sailor dives to the mix.
But throughout our adventures here and there, I really noticed the girls getting older and moving on from really being children this summer. I started asking myself what kinds of things THEY want to do on vacation. Where would THEY like to go? What kinds of experiences do I want to put in THEIR memory banks before they move out to college and then on into life without us always around? I know, they're only 10 and 8. But I refuse to pretend like we have them forever. Clare, as I came to realize the other day, is already more than half of the way to being 18. Yikes.
Mercifully, they both still love, or at least pretend to love, spending time with Ann and I. And Addie's preferred method of ending a night is watching TV while lying on my lap and falling asleep. I'm working hard on making that MY favorite way to end the day as well. OK, so there's a beer within arm's reach. Sue me.
Maybe it's because I'm the only guy in the house that I feel like I'm owed some time to just do guy crap, whether it's brew some beer, go on a mountain bike ride, hell, even a mountain bike trip. (That's on the calendar for September. ;-) ) But I'm working to strike a balance by carving out time just for them. Time created by me, but designed by them. To do stuff with dad THEY want to do. And I'm banking on a twofold payoff; first we get to have fun together in the short term, but then we get to have those memories down the road when they hopefully come back to us hauling loads of laundry to be done from school. Or even when they come back with their own kids. But I digress..
It has really been a fantastic summer. We hiked really cool trails in the middle of Indiana, ate some really disgusting food with even worse names on the U of I campus, raced triathlons together, built and painted wooden shelves for their rooms, ate LOTS of ice cream (we're not done with that yet, by the way. Still a few days left) and stayed up really late and fell asleep together. Volleyball leagues, sleepovers, more volleyball in the backyard, I miss it already just typing it out. 
If the weather forecast holds true, it will probably FEEL more like summer next week right about the time school starts. But mentally it's fading fast. And I realize more each day how much I love those two gorgeous, talented girls. So I'm taking this space in time to thank God for the blessings He's poured out on me. We're surrounded by some truly special friends, family and I'm of course thankful for my girls most of all.