Sweet, but Oh So Bitter

     This time of year always brings a host of mixed feelings flooding into my brain and soul.  Excitement overcomes, summer and adventure are days (if not hours) away.  Relaxation, travel, other activities await.  But, not everything is sweet.  Not all my friends will be back in classes next year.  Some will have graduated and moved on to college.  People's lives move on.  My friends grow up.  I grow up.  This is the way of life.  Why?  Why can't time just stop for a bit?  Why does the treadmill of time have only one speed?  A speed too slow for some occasions and much, MUCH too fast for others.  Why must people's lives change so drastically; so quickly?  I've always had this irrational fear that connection with friends will be lost in this never ending conveyer belt of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years.  Irrational?  Possibly not.  Its been known to happen.  I've experienced it.  I've seen others experience it.  Maybe it is a feasible fear.  Yes, most probably.  Life.  Time.  People.  Such a friendly-foe is created when these three things are mixed.  Life creates moments filled with love, peace, joy, laughter, smiles, tears, grief and pain.  It never creates the exact same thing twice.  This can be good.  This can be painful.  Time pulls, pushes, and prods these moments along, day after day.  The people are what makes everything worth it.  They are life's tool for creating laughter.  They are what makes the pain and sweat worth it.  Mix all these together and...BOOM! A vast cacophony of memories.   Painful memories? Some.  But, above all else memories that will last a life time.  Memories that will bring encouragement, delight, and joy.  I don't want my life to change.  I love it just the way it is.  Its times when I feel like this that the quote from none other than Dr. Seuss is so helpful to remember.  "Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened."  Ahh!  Smile because it happened.  Smile.  Smile.  SMILE.  It happened.  The memory lives vividly on in our brains.  It lives.  Summer, as I'm sure you all can tell, is my favorite time of the year, but many of my best memories come from the school year.  The countless Tuesdays and Thursdays spent laughing, smiling, working hard, and simply being near those who mean so much.  I don't want to cry that it is over.  I want to smile my largest, truest smile because it happened.  Besides,"what a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives have not happened yet."  ~ Unknown  Think about it.  Some of the best days of our lives haven't happened yet.  We have more to look forward to and make memories with. 

    To all those who won't be going to school with me next year (and to those who will be): Thank you for all the magnificent memories.  Let us plan to create more.  Please?!?! 

    Have a most glorious summer. 

 ~Brooke