First Days & Last Days

First days and last days of vacation tend to resemble one another. 

On the first day there is an excited wave of novelty. 

A pool to enjoy...whenever the mood strikes, 

the sandy beach just steps away, 

and playmates whose sole purpose each day is to play with none other than Y-O-U.  

On first days you just want to do it all, to play as hard and as fast and as long as you can simply because today you CAN and yesterday you couldn't.

During the middle days there is less of a draw to do all and be all, for yesterday you did all 

and tomorrow you can still be all. 

Routines are settled into 

and expectation and reality meet in the middle...

as vacation settles into its happy rhythm. 

On the last day, activity mirrors that of the first day but the motivation differs vastly. You still swim as much as you can 

and play as hard as you can

with as many mates as you can...

...because tomorrow you CAN'T.

Tomorrow, you will be riding for hours in a car with the same ole gang that you came with. 

On last days there are no ifs, 

no preferences, 

no do-ya-want-to's.

There are instead--MUSTS 

as opportunity prepares to end her knocking. 

Last days make you gaze a little deeper, 

hold on a little tighter, 

and pause a moment longer 

amidst all of the  being and doing, 

not because you failed to appreciate all that vacation was yesterday, 

but because when tomorrow arrives it will turn all that vacation is 

into all that vacation was.

Oh, and wasn't it grand!