Excuse me, but does anyone know where the pause button is for life? There should be one. Sort of a TiVo option for daily existence. I would use it to keep the grandchildren from growing two feet while I’m buried under insurance papers at work. That way I could help tend the sick and still make it to the field before Number One Grandson throws his first-ever touch down pass.

I would also use it to keep the laundry, bills, dishes, and dust from piling up while I write the Great American Novel. I wouldn’t want to push pause during the sticky days of August. But here in late September, I’d gladly freeze-frame the occassional day. Then I’d just breathe, and think, and be for a while.

My mother always warned me not to wish my life away. (This conversation happened frequently during the era of high school angst.) And I suppose wanting the world to stop for a moment is equally dangerous. The only time it ever happened, nobody got a Selah. Thousands of years ago, one of Israel’s leaders asked God to make the sun stand still so he could have a little more time to kill off the bad guys. God complied with that request.

I wouldn’t want the hard parts of life to stretch out, though.  So, I guess I’ll just try to change my perspective. I’ll be grateful for video from Great Moments in Football History. I will embrace September, even when it feels like August. And I’ll write the novel with my back turned to the laundry. Then, every so often, I will stand still and breathe and let the world (and the insurance papers) keep swirling around me without feeling like I’m going to swirl away with them.

And, following my mother’s advice, I’ll enjoy ever season.