debbie
Summertime and the living's easy...
August 06, 2005
Summertime has always been a time of promise for me. I always promise myself that I won’t waste a single moment of my summer. I will seize the day and make the most of it. I always say this when I am chained to my desk, trying to finish my first final in it’s last five minutes. When under the wire of exams, you seem to make a lot of promises to yourself. One being you will never ever put yourself through the pressure of waiting until the last minute to study again. But then you go and do it again for next year’s finals. Funny ain’t it?
I digress.
While my fingers are throbbing from gripping my no. 2 pencil a little too hard, I say to myself, “I will enjoy this summer…I will go on hikes, see the countryside, go to local concerts, explore and relive the summers of my childhood. Most importantly, I will not allow my job to get in the way of all these plans.” But, you guessed it, it is always the latter that wins out. I spend most of the beautiful New England summer days in the air-conditioned market asking people if they want “paper or plastic” to pack their groceries.
This was going to be a different summer for me.
I went into this summer with a different attitude. My thinking was this: it would probably be my last extended period at home. I would be transferring as a Junior to Simmons this fall, and figured that I would do my internship the next summer. A part of me is hoping that whatever it is, it will allow me to stay in Boston, or travel someplace else. Trust me, I would love to stay home for the summer, but the prospect of going someplace new and exciting appeals to me as well. This would also be my first time living away from home.
So, this summer has been one of reflection.
My thoughts have been mixed. I have been wondering if I would ever be able to pull this off. I come from a community college background, one where I would live at home and commute to school. There was a certain comfort in the thought that no matter how bad the school day got, no matter how many failing grades I got [just kidding] I always had my own home, my own room and my own teddy bear to return to. Now, rather than fall into the comforting arms of my mother or my boyfriend when I have a rough day - I have a roommate. Actually three total. But I highly doubt my roommate would appreciate that. I am sure that her reaction would be one of “Um Deb? I REALLY need to finish this report on molecular biology.”
Nah. My roommate is great, I have been lucky enough to have an e-mail relationship with her before we pack all our stuff into a tiny room this fall. I can tell she has a great sense of humor. She is going to need it if she wants to survive this upcoming semester with me. It’s the only way to survive around me. Especially since this is going to be my first semester away from home. New and different situations tend to scare me, so my coping mechanism is to lash out - with humor.
However, I must admit - this summer has been a time of bittersweet memories. I know that it sounds corny, but it is the truth. I treasure every moment that I spend with my family - and realize that the day is coming soon where I will no longer see them in the morning. I will no longer have a chance to tell them in person that I love them, and how much they mean to me. This is not the end, of course, but it will be the beginning of a prolonged absence. And that, is the beginning of a new chapter in my life.
~Deb
Posted by debbie13 at August 6, 2005 08:40 PM