Fall Rush

Me, two winters ago. Time to chop my hair off again.
The old "change my hair" trick...another distraction. ;)

It was June.

It was August.

Now September is nearly gone.

Life is giving me a headrush.

The start of a school year is always a busy time...

add to it, my youngest has taken up a new sport in the mix (golf), and my older has college apps looming over his (my) head, and Drivers Ed.

My revisions on my next book were turned in and I'm waiting for feedback from my new editor at Algonquin (*gulp*). In the meantime, that starts the clock running on the four months until I can turn in my next option book. I don't want another big gap between books if I can help it, and I've got miles to go on those revisions (and would like a back up in place, to boot).

While my "paid work" has been slow, I've also been reviewing the movie script (!!) for The Pull of Gravity movie, if that ever comes to fruition and I have a bunch of book-related stuff coming up including a school visit in PA, and some local, Skype, and NYC events.

And, of course, have still been trying to get in the open water almost daily. . .

West Neck Beach under moody September morning skies

Which means

fall is rushing by.

As always,

life is rushing by.

Lately, faster than ever.

One of my favorite photos of Holden from a few years ago,
taken by my talented friend Rick Kopstein.

I want to stop every parent with a small child who passes by, and shake them, and yell, "Pay attention to every second! Every moment! It will be gone before you know it! You think you know, but you don't know. You don't know!"

I remember people telling me that. I sensed the urgency in their voices, and, I promise you, I took heed.

But, the truth is, even paying attention to every second with wonder and gratitude, won't make it last longer, or slow time down.

I want time back, but it doesn't work like that. Life keeps marching forward.

My beautiful friend Jennifer once wrote to me in a letter (in our early twenties!): "There are only two truths: the first, that you can never let go, and the second, you can never hold on."

I never forgot those words.

How right she was.

- gae