August Urgency

Another summer is winding down. Temps are cooling off, and daylight hours are noticeably shorter. My dad always keeps track of (and shares) the exact number of minutes lost. But since I love fall, I don’t happen to mind the cooler temps and shorter days.

Update:  Sadly, my dad died in July 2016.

Why do summer months seem to pass more quickly anyway?

There seems to be lots of stuff to hurry up and get done before summer ends. You know, all that stuff on your to do list you haven’t finished (or even started) that at the beginning of summer you thought you had plenty of time to accomplish.

It seems to me, lots of rushing around goes on during August as people try to finish up summer projects, take the last summer vacation, squeeze in that last good read or summer movie, have one more big cook-out or camp-out, shop for school clothes and supplies, get a loved one settled in college, visit grandma or whatever.

There’s so much to get done in August.

August feels like a month of urgency.

And August always seems to go by too quickly. Unless that is, you’re a child starting to count the days until Christmas, as one of my sisters and I did every August while we were growing up. Back then, Christmas felt like an eternity away from August. There were way too many days to mark off on the calendar.

We didn’t think or care the same way about urgency back then. We just wanted those days and months between August and December to go by and go by quickly. They never seemed to.

Time moves more slowly for youth, or so say people who are no longer youthful.

As you get older, time seems to pick up momentum. Adults often claim it would be nice to slow it down a bit.

A certain August that did not go by quickly enough for me was chemo-August.

I wanted that August to end and end quickly. But of course to me, it didn’t seem to.

That was the August of the summer that wasn’t. That was the August when my chemo cocktail switched from Adriamycin (the Red Devil) and Cytoxan to Taxol. That was the August of intense mental haze, extreme fatigue, unbearable mood swings and other various challenges no one really cares to hear about now.

That was the August which lasted an eternity for me and probably for my family as well, as they had to patiently put up with me. It was my family’s chemo-August too.

As this August winds down, I’m grateful to still be NED (no evidence of disease).

However, cancer isn’t over for me and in fact, I see oncologist number four (more on my oncologist saga later) next week for more follow-up. Cancer will never be over for me, but I am coming to be more at peace with this; not with the cancer part, but with the part it will now always be a part of who I am.

Cancer doesn’t define me, but it’s certainly an integral piece of “experience” now listed on my “life’s resume”.

I still have my summer to-do list, with some things checked off, but many more that aren’t.

I still have a college student to get ready and off. I still have a visit to grandpa’s house to make. I still have a pile of books to finish reading. I still have a movie or two I’d like to see. I still have lots of unattended yard work (not to mention house work) to complete. I still have tons of work to do on writing projects; well, you get the idea. I still have lots to do.

You probably do too.

Who doesn’t?

But it’s a long time until next summer and next August.

So, I plan to slow down whenever I can during my August urgency moments. I will remind myself to enjoy these fleeting days of yet another summer winding down. Because they’re almost gone. Again.

What about you?

Do you feel a sense of urgency to get things done in August?

Do you have special plans to close out August or summer this year?

How do you slow down time?

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Note from Nancy: Order my new book EMERGING HERE. I wrote it to help others emerging from life-altering challenges — including cancer, loss of a loved one, the pandemic, and others as well. Because your hard matters too.