Since the first day back from winter break in January, my life has been a countdown to summer.
Whether it was a Saturday or a Tuesday, my weeks became measured by a slowly ticking clock that was racing me not fast enough towards the freedom marked on the calendar as June 5.
“This weekend was a preview of summer.”
“Two more Mondays until it’s summer break.”
“I cannot wait until the weather is this warm every single day.”
It’s not like I dislike school. I’m not the student who hates each class and each teacher, who anxiously dreads every assignment or presentation. No, I love the independence high school offers, and I romanticize my high school time, dreaming of getting accepted into my dream college one day.
But school seemed to drag on regardless, and the days began to stack up in consecutive blurs of energy drinks and tests. As the weeks went by, it took longer and longer for the 2:45 p.m. bell to ring, and the mornings felt earlier and earlier.
“Just 15 days until summer break,” I told myself.
Well, summer break is almost here. The cumulation of my days this year wasted through wishes and complaints, and the goal I’ve been sprinting for is almost close enough for me to touch. No more hour delays, no more full five-day weeks of school, and only four more exams.
This pristine vision of warm weather and ice cream trips has been held in my extreme high regard, but now that it’s actually here, I can’t help but wonder how this summer will actually be spent.
Will those ice cream runs be completed?
Will I still stay in touch with all of my friends?
Or will this summer instead be spent scrolling on my phone and dreaming of the next thing to come?
I hope that summer will actually be the adventure I’ve been waiting for, but I anxiously wait in my apprehension of the possibility that it will instead be spent within the blue light glow of my phone screen.
I’m still dreaming of my summer, and I doubt I’ll be any less excited on the last day of school than I was when the weather first turned warm. I just hope that my brief summer break won’t be spent in bed, or scrolling, or spinning my time away inside.
I may act like summer is never-ending, and that the inevitable start of sophomore year will stay a safe distance of ten weeks away, but it will come sooner than I expect. Football season will begin again, but so will the chilly weather and the snow.
There are still events to anticipate in the months after school starts, but the sunkissed glow of summer break is unrivaled by what transpires during the school year.
So as the rapidly approaching deadline of summer is approaching to measure up against my tall expectations, I hope that my expectations for the fleeting summer aren’t proven to be just that: nothing more than expectations and hopeful wishes.
