Sometimes I wish summer would never end. All year, I dream about those three short months of summer and all that they bring. I have always grown up swimming during the summertime. Ever since I was a baby, my grandparents have had a pool, and that’s where my Mimi taught me how to swim. Eventually, I started going to the lake with my childhood best friend, Sarabeth, and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with tubing, late-night bonfires, and karaoke. I didn’t love the rocky/muddy bottom of the lake, but it was worth it for the cool of the water. I will always cherish those summers at the lake with Sarabeth. If I hadn’t gone there and loved it so much, my family would never have bought the lake house we have now. To me, it is one of the best spots in the world. I have spent many days and nights out there, whether it was in the water, riding a jet ski, or having s’mores while watching football on the projector and my homemade sheet screen.
I love the lazy days of summer, where all you have to do is lie on the couch and watch your favorite TV show (I just finished watching Bones). I also love the crazy days, when I have to drive to five different places and sweat all day. It is all worth it. Now that I am in college, it doesn’t feel like I have as much freedom as I do in college because I am living with my family again, but I will take less freedom in exchange for the lake and not having to do schoolwork. Now that summer is about to end, it feels a little bittersweet. This summer has been different from the rest because this is the first summer that I have been truly single, and honestly, it was great. I have experienced two summers having a boyfriend, and I wouldn’t trade those for anything, but it has been very nice being able to do anything I want and not having to rely on another person for my happiness, or to hang out with me. Everyone should experience a period in their life where they’re truly single, choosing to be so and not looking for or pursuing anyone, focusing solely on themselves.
As I said in the beginning, I sometimes wish that summer would never end, but the truth is that it has to eventually. Life is full of seasons, and summer is one of them. While I love summer very much, I have started to look forward to things like cold nights, college game day, football games, chili, moving into my new dorm with my friends, starting a new major, late-night cookout runs, and everything in between. I know I will be sad when the lake water starts to get lower, the time changes, and the leaves begin to fall, but I will remind myself of all the first summer single memories and all of the great things to come. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” Ecclesiastes 3:1
May the passing of seasons remind us – that though we don’t always want change, it comes. And it can be good.- Refuge Poetry