Dear Summer,

Every year you show up you have so much potential. You offer time to organize things, adventure with my friends, reconnect with my family, eat at the little ice cream parlor I've been wanting to go to for two years, get my life together, and work on my tan. Every year winter creeps by, feeling like it's never going to end, but eventually, winter melts into spring and brings the promise of your arrival. You signify fresh starts and second chances. I mean, even the creative genius F. Scott Fitzgerald realized it. He said it best, "And so with the sunshine and the great burst of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow fast in movies, I had a familiar conviction that life began again with summer" (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby). You bring freedom and with that the happiest moments of the year. You promise laughter, long nights, dirty feet, tangled hair, and freckles. The only problem? You're gone before any of this can happen. You leave even faster then you come and this year is no exception.

Summer, where are you going? You always move way too fast and disappear before my closet is cleaned out, I'm a nice golden brown, and even have the opportunity to grab lunch with my friends after work. I spend every summer finding myself claiming, "Yeah, I'll do that before school", freaking out when June 15th rolls around because I've done nothing and I've been out of school for a month, dreading the weeks after the Fourth of July because they are over before they even start, and trying to make up for every lost moment the first two weeks in August--all with this pit in my stomach because you're not slowing down. Then, like every August, I swear next summer will be savored and move slower.

What do I have to do? If you're never going to slow down, how do I make it the best summer ever in a few blinks of an eye? Do I write all of my plans down on a calendar? Do I never sleep and hope my friends don't either? I could move to the Sahara Desert where it's summer 24/7. Or I could live in denial the other three season of the year and run around in my shorts and sandals. I don't know how to make you stay. I also don't know how you possibly expect me to start school in a handful of weeks, convert to jeans in a couple months, and sport a hoodie in three.

This next month is going to be over in a blink of an eye, so I can spend it asking myself where it went or I can make these next four weeks the best. Summer, while I'm still asking you to stay, I also will make you a promise. I promise to organize my closet before school starts again. I promise to soak up as much sun as you're willing to spare. I will spend more time with my friends, especially the ones leaving in the fall for different schools, remember that summer is just as much for my parents as it is for me, and eat a lot of ice cream. I promise to welcome the end of July and the start of August with open arms. But more than anything, I promise to always ask you to stay.