Summer is still six months away. Especially at this point in the school year, I need the heat and the summery tunes on the radio. Summer is a time where I feel more relaxed even though I am never fully relaxed.

There is only one bad part of summer, which is its end, but the good parts about summer far outweigh the bad, the sad, and the ugly tears streaming down my face as school begins.

1. The warm weather

2. Making money

3. Having money

4. Not having the stress of school

5. Not having to drive everywhere

6. Having more time on my hands

7. Eating ice cream at least once or twice per week

8. Sleeping under the stars

9. The feeling that anything is possible in those three short months

10. The sunshine

11. Summer rain storms

12. Not having frost on my car windows every morning

13. Shorts

14. Tank tops

15. Summer dresses

16. Summer skirts

17. Dress shoes

18. Wearing aviator sunglasses everywhere

19. Doing something or not doing anything all day

20. Driving with the windows rolled down

21. Late night Wal-Mart trips

22. Starbucks summer frappuccino flavors

23. Sleeping in every day

24. Blasting music in the kitchen while doing dishes

25. The seemingly endless supply of watermelon in my fridge

26. Backyard family dinners

27. Beach vacations

28. Not having to wear a coat every day

29. Day trips to the zoo

30. Staying up all night and not having to worry about being too tired for the next day

31. Somehow being skinnier than I am in the winter even though I eat way more food in the summer

32. The chirping crickets

33. The sunsets that are around 9:45 every night

34. The fact it is still as bright as noon at 7:00 P.M.

35. Not always being cold

36. Not having to wear socks all the time

37. Being barefoot all day

38. The smell of freshly cut grass

39. Bonfires

40. Smores

41. Tanlines

42. Freckles

43. Not having to wake up to alarms every morning

44. The breeze from the A/C upon walking into the house

45. Grocery shopping to pass the time

46. The scents the summer air gives to my nose

47. Saying goodbye to jeans for a while

48. Having enough time in the morning to braid my hair

49. Hanging out with my friends and family who go away to school

50. Seeing my parents because I hardly ever see them during the school year

In wind ensemble during the first semester of my sophomore year in high school, we played a song by Larry Daehn titled As Summer Was Just Beginning (Song for James Dean). "As summer was just beginning" is an epitaph from a painting about a young person dying, as their life was just beginning.

James Dean, being only twenty-four when he died, was just starting his life. It ended in the same way that summer ends: as summer was seriously just beginning.

Ever since the year I played this song, every year during summer break, I think about this song. To this very day whenever I listen to it, I feel that same emotional connection to the song I felt in high school and wish for more summer, knowing it could never happen but still being thankful I had the three short months of fun.