only a few more minutes of summer...

Camden started back to band camp this morning.  I would have made him squirm for a picture, but I was running late for work, and he was far too quick to shout goodbye and head out the door.  Even though he has been driving since January, I felt strange that he was driving himself to camp, and that it doesn't matter when I leave work, he'll make it home on his own.  Weird, and wonderful.  And a little bittersweet.  He is half-way through high school... and each day he checks off the calendar, chips away at making the half,  three quarters...

I was glad the other morning, as Eric and I headed out for a walk, that Cam wanted to join us.  It seems it is my never-ending quest to spoil him with as much time as he will allow, and summer is slipping away...

As we walked the shell covered path, Eric jokes that he needs to train his eyes to spot the smallest things... so that he can be the star spotter next summer in Africa.  Camden is actually almost as good a spotter as his Dad... and my head turns right and left to see the baby alligators they are pointing out. 

Though they are small, I walk tall and narrow, and in the middle of the path... the mama must be near, and I picture her propelling herself from the waterway with her mouth wide, teeth bared.  When at last we made it to the boardwalk, my soul let out a sigh and I strolled with ease.  Butterflies flittered and grasshoppers rested still, with wide eyes.  Red bloomed in the wild and interrupted the green with an extra splash of beauty...

When we had walked as far as I was brave enough to go, and were looping back to the car I stopped and listened.  The loud buzz of insects had softened and I could hear a rushing rumble break the quiet.  Louder, closer... what is that?  And then we spotted the rippling on still water as the rain moved across the land and over us.  With a smirk Cam asked should we run?  But ever the Myth Busters fan, I already knew what he'd say if we did... so we walked, a little quicker, in the rain,  hoping that we were, in fact, staying just a little dryer....