Skip to main content

Summertime, and the Livin is... Easy?

We are in the peak of summer here in good old Indiana. The summer solstice passed what, like, last week or something? Yeah... I don't really know. However, I do have an actual point to make with this blog post, so let's get onto it.

Growing up, I was never one of those kids who longed for summer vacation. I mean, it was fun... for like two weeks... and when we went on trips, but I spent the majority of my summer days bored out of my mind and almost every summer night and weekend super busy. Looking back now, I have no idea what I did with my summer days. I imagine they were mostly spent talking to friends online (back when we still used dial up and everyone had AOL), and I am sure there was a fair amount of hours spent designing my Xanga and MySpace pages, reading/re-reading Harry Potter, and my brothers and I locking each other out of the house for long periods of time. Incase you haven't figured it out yet, I never answered that summer was my favorite season. I didn't understand what was so great about summer! Hot and sticky outside, bipolar air conditioning inside, never getting to see your friends from school, having to find ways to spend hours of your day that would normally be occupied by school. I truly and honestly believe I would have preferred year-round schooling to having a big summer vacation.

What I didn't know then that I have learned this summer is that I never knew what was so great about summer because I never got to see the best parts of it. All the fun things that happen in summer happen at night and on the weekends! When I was busy unlike normal people who don't spend their free time in community theater shows or rigorously training for a nationally ranked all-star cheerleading squad! Or maybe growing up there just weren't so many fun and free (or cheap) events to do around this area, but I have done so many things this summer that I never really got to do before. I've been to festivals and carnivals and the fireworks downtown. I've gone on random adventures to animal shelters and the Children's Museum and had a picnic with my boyfriend in the park. Later this week, we are going to a park in North Salem for this star-gazing event they're having, and next week is this Arts Festival I really want to go to! There are just so many things to do that are truly so much good, old-fashioned fun that don't cost tons of money like going to the movies does.

I am loving spending this summer with some really awesome people in my life, and I am glad that I am taking every opportunity to make memories with them. There will never be another summer like this summer. Who knows where the road may lead? But I am loving Summer 2011, and I'm glad I've got a whole month and a half of it left!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love Monologue from the movie Stardust

Yvaine: You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it; I've seen centuries and centuries of it. It's the only thing that made watching your world bearable. All the wars, pain, lies, and hate, made me want to turn away and never look down again. But to see the way that mankind loves! I mean you could search the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So, yes I know that love is unconditional, but I also know it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable, and strangely easy to mistake for loathing. And, well, what I'm trying to say, Tristan, is.. I think I love you. My heart it feels like my chest can barely contain it, like it doesn't belong to me anymore; it belongs to you, and if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange: no gifts, no goods, no demonstrations of devotion, nothing, but knowing you love me, too. Just your heart in exchange for min...
7 comments
Read more

Why Lent?

Earlier today, I tweeted something about Lent, and then I decided that my impression of this tradition is far too complicated to confine to tweets. Essentially, I do not understand the point of Lent the way that most people choose to celebrate it. I get the basics of it, you give up something for 40 days because Jesus wandered the desert for 40 days while fasting, and you want to show Him your love and devotion by giving up something of yours for Him. Here's the thing, though, after those 40 days, Jesus went out and began His ministry. His 40 days of fasting were in preparation for Him to give His life to the salvation of the world. The idea behind Lent is that if you give up these things that we don't realize we spend so much time doing, you can then devote that time and energy to God through service, prayer, devotional time, etc. Lent is supposed to be a time where you not just make a sacrifice of something you like but where you spend time reestablishing your connection with...
2 comments
Read more

I am not okay...

For weeks now, I have been in a downward spiral. I don't know when it started or why, but I have reached the point where I no longer feel in control, a point that I have been terrified of since I first sought help a year and a half ago. I feel constantly lonely, searching for companionship in the worlds of fantasy TV shows and books, just like I did with Harry Potter when I was growing up. I can't sleep at night. I fear the loneliness, so I keep reading or watching TV because I know as soon as I stop I will feel the weight of my world pinning me to my bed with no where else to go, no one to lay next to me and hold me and bear part of the weight with me. My ability to be rational or reasonable, all of my strength and confidence, they've disappeared. Instead, I go day-to-day mostly just existing until the night hits, and then I just feel pain. I can't remember the last night I didn't lay in my bed and cry. I have shut down, and the only reaction I have to anything is...
2 comments
Read more