Loss of Late Summer

The crickets are chirping loudly and flies buzz the screens. The blueberries are prime and it's not quite time for apples. The last rays of evening are fanned with a taste of coming fall, but it's not fall yet. Where are your children?

Everyone we know has started school if they're not studying at home. These last days of summer, when so many of us think of final trips to the beach or a camping trip that offers a bit less heat, are lost in the grind of everyday. The bookbags are packed, the children are hustled out of bed, and the houses are silent. Then, in these evenings that beg us to linger, linger over the night noises and the touch of cool, linger over the fireflies and the first twinklings of stars, we must shuttle everyone off to bed so they can be fresh in the morning.

We keep our children home for school, and I watched them prance around the yard in the coming evening, dinner on hold for this final parade, and remembered my late games of hide and seek in this season between. Why must we be in such a hurry for them to learn just a little bit more? Are we sure we aren't robbing them of something more precious?