Blink and you’ll miss it.

What is “it,” in this context?

Why, the entire remainder of the year.

September through December might be the busiest season. Every time you turn around – bam! – something else is happening, another weekend has passed, and we’re that much closer to the end of a year that feels like it just started.

Bam! School starts back.

Bam! Labor Day.

Bam! The first day of fall.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve. Bam, bam, bam, bam.

There’s always something to do, and the calendar always seems fuller than it should. But in this busiest of busy times, we want to encourage you to keep the important things at the forefront of life – one of the most important being your family.

Time is one of the only things we can’t get back, and as more and more time passes, it means less time to spend with the ones we love.

There are so many occasions and moments we can enjoy together in this season. There are football games and pumpkin patches, bonfires and baking, hayrides and chili suppers. There are several big community festivals on the horizon, including Pumpkin Palooza, Spruce Pine Day, Founders Day and the Spirit of Hodges Festival. There’s trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving and, not long after that, turkeys and thankfulness and parades and tree lightings and Santa and presents …

It can be easy to get caught up in the minutia of all these events. From planning the food to figuring out scheduling to organizing the travel and keeping track of all the equipment and supplies required – it’s a lot.

We need to take time in the midst of all that, though, to treasure the people we are spending these days with. It’s cliché-but-true that time is moving too fast. If we don’t make an intentional effort to slow down and savor the memories we’re making and the precious people who are part of those memories, it will all pass right by.

Don’t blink. Make time for family and friends and the people you care about, and make firm memories you can carry with you always.