What do you miss most about summer?
By: Kimmi Aquino
When I realize the next time I’ll be able to go home is when snow hits the ground, my first thoughts are, I assure you, not appropriate for print. It’s Sunday morning and my living room, which has turned into my temporary packing station, feels like a materialized interpretation of my current state: unorganized, scattered, and overwhelming. I know I should dedicate the next few hours finishing what should have been done days ago, but instead, here I am in my living room, leaning up against mountainous piles of jeans, shirts, and sundresses, writing this article instead. I can’t pinpoint what’s actually preventing me from folding my last heap of clothes or loading the final box in my car. Rather, it’s this eminent feeling that everything around me will once again, change.
My hometown friends and I attend universities far from the comforts of our central Pennsylvanian upbringing and we knew our shared time together was limited. Opting out of the conventional movie nights this summer, we spent our time exploring the Northeast—from visiting “Land of Little Horses” (yes, it’s a real place!) to art galleries in Brooklyn, I eventually forgot why I was so heartbroken to leave the Midwest in the first place.
One of the last nights my friends and I shared together involved a spontaneous trip to Philadelphia to see the band Arcade Fire in concert. We didn’t have tickets, gas money, or enough seats in the car, but like any road trip, we made it work. The concert was nothing short of amazing and when the band played their final song, “Wake Up”, the entire crowd, myself and friends included, completely lost itself with the music. It was during this moment that I saw my friends pressed up against the barriers with colorful stage lights dancing off their sun-tanned skin, as they sang along with the lead singer. Eventually the song started to mean more than just catchy prose—we screamed out the final words almost as an act of desperation that no one wanted to admit: summer was ending and this moment of invincibility was ironically fleeting.
The silent car ride on the drive back home prompted my friend to ask, “what will you miss most about summer?” I replied, “this.” Looking back, I don’t really know what “this” specifically was. Maybe it was the concert itself, or Pennsylvania, or the friends and love that I surrounded myself with all summer. Either way, I knew I was thankful of the summer and the people I shared it with.
With our carefree summers coming to an end, we can all have our doubts about this semester. Will we have as much fun? Have the same friends? Live the same lives? Every year is a new adventure. I may really never know what I will specifically miss about this summer, but we’ll all be presented with new escapades of our own this year. We’re young, and should enjoy the moments we have with the people we care about, right?
So cheers to this new academic year. Let’s make it a good one.
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What do you miss most about summer? Let me know! Leave a comment (anonymous if you want) and I might talk about it in next week's article
