The Long Awaited Summer

The grass is green once again, and it's covered in those weeds I always used to pick for my mom because I thought they were pretty flowers. The weather is finally warm and since I live in Alabama, the air getting pretty wet and sticky. You can only stand outide in the same place for about three seconds before there is at least one gnat up your nose or down in the corner of your eye. James Spann probably has only gotten a couple of hours of sleep in the last week because everybody is worried about the tornadoes that come through this time of year. Students are feeling those extra pounds upon their shoulders because exam week is quickly approaching. We all long to be able to breathe evenly once again, without the stress of school. We will be able to sleep until noon and eat two bowls of cocoa puffs before enjoying a long day of relaxation. Yes, summer is almost here.

Summer has always been pretty much what I live for. I love absolutely everything about it. No school. Hot Southern weather that everybody else complains is miserable. My birthday. Sleep. Laziness. Of course, summer isn't quite as carefree as it used to be. I have a job now, and I am in desperate need of getting more work hours once I can. I'm approaching my senior year which means I need to start focusing on applying for colleges, doing community service work, and earning as much money as I can. But even with all that to think about, I am looking foward to this summer more than I have most summers in my past.

I feel like this is going to be a summer that really counts, and I want to make it great. I want to waste a day reading a good book out by the pool. I want to fry my skin in attempts of getting a decent tan. I want to wear tank tops and shorts while running around in those afternoon thunderstorms that come about every day in the summer. Hopefully I'm getting a car soon and so for the first time in my life, if I want to hop in the car and go to Smoothie Joes I can do it. And that thought makes me happy.

I also want to help others this summer. I really need to be more involved in my community, and hopefully doors will be opened to do that in these next few months.

I want to rebuild broken relationships. There have been numerous people who have come and gone in my life, and there is absolutely no good reason they shouldn't still be here. I want to go back to the good ole days and relive some old memories even if it means me swallowing my pride or stepping out of my comfort zone.

Everybody says they want to "find themself". Not me. I'm ready to begin creating myself. I've wasted so incredibly much time in my life so far, and I regret so much of that. I want to start living for the moment. Enjoying every single second of life. Stepping up doing what I want to do, despite the fears or hesitations that may be involved. When people ask me who I am and what I want to do, I want to be able to give them a good answer.

This summer I want to write more. I want to write things that to other people are completely meaningless, but to me are a form of expression. I want my blog page to be full of several posts a week even if that means just talking about what happened in my day.

All in all, I want this summer to be a perfect array of both productiveness and laziness. And I want to find out things I never knew about both other and myself. But I want it to be one that is going to stand out to me in my future. One that I remember for particular reasons. It's going to be the summer right before the bridge that crosses over into adulthood. So I am going to enjoy my youth while it lasts instead of rushing through it like I once did.

~*Elizabeth