Almost Summer by: Kristen Bradish

School is coming to a close for the year. We've been waiting for this moment since we were dragged back here in September. I've never been good at saying goodbye, and this goodbye won't be for too long as we're only going away for a few months and then have to repeat this dreaded cycle all over again. But I'm going to focus on the bright side of things. Summer is right around the corner and with that comes days spent under the sun, on vacation, or just taking a well-deserved break. May, minus the anticipation of finals, has always been my favorite time of year. May is when the summer starts to kick in. The temperatures rise, flowers are in full bloom. It's a great time to go enjoy the great outdoors. Even though summer doesn't officially start till June, May is like the kick starter for the best season to come.
Once it's June, then it's really time to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out to the beach. Between my sister and I, my mom has always said that I'm more of the beach kid while my sister, Ashley, prefers to hide under thirty coats of sunscreen and an umbrella. The odd thing is, she was born in June, which would make you think that she'd be more accumulated to the sun since it was the first season she ever experienced. If you've ever met her though, you can tell from her vampire-like complexion that this assumption is far from the case. But I digress.
I love the summer because that means I'm finally free from my own rules. I'm one of those people that doesn't let themselves do anything during the school year. Oh, it's a weeknight and your friend wants to hang out on the boardwalk? Too bad, you have a math test tomorrow and you need to get your sleep. I go home, talk to my mom, do homework, and then go to bed. I've always been like this. It helps that I'm somewhat of a recluse and it already takes a lot of energy to drag myself out of the house even on weekends or holidays. But something changes when summer arrives. There's no more worrying about tests and attendance. In the summer, you can go outside whenever you want. You can go to the mall in the middle of the day while most people are working and take advantage of the vacant stores. I will personally savor my summers while I can before the real grown-up world comes crashing in and takes me away.
The boardwalk, for me, is the best thing about summer. You've got the timeless beach with the ocean that goes on infinitely in every direction. The sand that seems to get everywhere but is a nice reminder of all the fun you had when you find it a week later still in your shoes. Sandcastles were always my favorite growing up because I loved getting wet sand right by the shoreline and mixing it with the dry sand. This would form the perfect consistency for a solid castle foundation. Whenever I grew tired of the heat on the beach, we would go back onto the splintered, wooden boardwalk and play every water balloon game there was. After that, we'd seek shelter in the air-conditioned arcade. To this day, we still save all the tickets we get there every visit until we have enough for a big stuffed animal or one of the other ginormous prizes that can only be cashed in for after you've spent a fortune on arcade tickets. It's ok though because you should look at it this way: you paid to have a fun time playing all those rounds of ski-ball and basketball and this stuffed animal that seems really overpriced is in some way a free bonus prize. It's like the bonus of getting free candy with your dinner bill. You're paying for the thrill of the arcade games and the prize is just the unexpected cherry on top. In the summertime, it's always easy to look at the positives.

It's somewhat fitting, and yet surreal, that my last blog post shares the theme of my first entry written all those months ago. Life has its own way of taking you down paths you would've never thought were possible before. Things are always changing, ending, evolving. When I made my first blog post in September, I would've never thought I'd be revisiting it today. I probably never even saw this year coming to a finish so soon. A lot of things have changed during this school year. Most have been good changes, others are just a part of growing up and facing the fact that life moves on, with or without you. Sometimes, you just have to get into the summer spirit and go with the waves. I don't know when this turned from a post about summer into a sappy motivational speech, but it happened. Deal with it. Hope all of your summers are as calm and relaxing or as wild as you want them to be. There will always be circumstances changing life around, but I hope my summer traditions remain unscathed.