Next week is David Letterman’s last show. That sort of snuck up on me. I knew he was leaving, but I guess I didn’t realize he had so few shows left. Earlier this evening I was reading about his last show and it occurred to me that I should have been watching his show more regularly.I’m going to miss him.This happens to me quite often. I’ll be reminded that something’s ending, and then I’ll think, “Damn, I wish I would have enjoyed that more when it was around.” It happens to all of us, I suppose.I feel this most acutely every October. Although I love that time of year because of playoff baseball, it’s also the time when the weather really begins to change. Most October days we’re just as likely to see temperatures in the 30s as we are in the 70s. And inevitably, on that first day that I wake up to frost on the grass, I think, “What happened to all those warm days?”Then I think back to this time of year. Mid-May. Things are really starting to heat up temperature-wise, and everything’s blooming and the school year is almost complete, and the thought of the warm months to come make it seem like we’ve got all the time in the world.And we’ll take advantage of it at first. I’m already thinking about spending Friday evening at the park with my kids, running around on the playground, walking around the pond, trying to spot fish, and hearing my kids giggle uncontrollably as they roll down the small grassy hill. Since it’ll be warm we’ll stay out until after sunset and as we walk home one of my sons will mention how it’s so dark that we can barely see the house.Then there will be nights around the fire pit, and afternoons at the beach, and visits to the zoo, and picnics, and maybe a drive-in movie or two. The kids will get tan, and other people will complain about how hot it is, and the quiet of afternoons that are still, and thick with humidity, will be interrupted only by the hum of air conditioning.
We’ll be certain that summer will last forever.Until it doesn’t.We’ll be so sure that it will last forever though, that one day in July we’ll choose not to go outside because it’s just too damn hot, and what’s wrong with staying in and having a video game day anyway?And I’ll take the kids to the park after work and instead of staying until sunset—which can put us there until after nine o’clock near the middle of June—the kids will complain that they’re bored, that they were just at the park yesterday, that they’ve seen the same fish for three or four days, and besides, who wants to roll down a hill when it’s so muggy outside?Don’t even get them started on mosquitoes.They want something different, they'll say.The calendar will turn to August, and they’ll go back to school, and we’ll enjoy the summer again for a little while. Suddenly, normal bed times and staring out the window while the teacher explains a math lesson will make us realize that the summer’s over, and we’ll be so afraid that we didn’t make the most of it that we’ll go back to spending as much time outside as possible. Except now we can only go outside after school and on weekends.Before we know it, that frosty October morning has arrived. And we’ll try to fool ourselves and act like we’re excited for cooler weather, and pumpkins, and falling leaves, but really we know that we’ve got one fewer summer in our lives.Then we’ll miss it.Just like Letterman. He’s not even off the air yet, and I wish that I would have watched his show more regularly. By this time next week, he’ll be retired and his show will be in the past. Something that was, instead of something that is.(By the way, it seems like Anna Kendrick might have performed this song on Letterman's show just so I could include it in this post. Do yourself a favor and click on it.)I try to stay away from quoting song lyrics here, but if these lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi don’t sum it up perfectly, I don’t know what does:Don’t it always seem to goThat you don’t know what you gotTil it’s goneThey paved paradiseAnd put up a parking lotAt least it’s only mid-May. There’s still time.October may never come.PREVIOUS POST: Do You Even Think About What It's Worth?IF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: What I Believe, Crash Davis Style+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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