Summer is coming to a close, and with it, the experiences and people that have impacted my past months. I am going back up to school for a new year, and I am just as nervous as I was starting as a freshman. I am at a completely different place in my life than I was a year ago. I figured out how to navigate school as the person I was then, and I will have to find my way in the place that I am at now.

I am not sad leaving behind my summer experience and the people and places that came with it, but rather reflective. I have realized that good things do not have to come to an end if you do not want them to. All of the people that I have spent time with that I am leaving when I go up to school, I can choose to stay connected to. Yes, it is not the same as seeing someone every day in a specific setting, but relationships with people are what you make them. You have the power to stay in contact or visit whoever you want, and not sulk in a loss, but rather make an adjustment.

I am saying goodbye to a summer where I spent every day with campers that I adore, friends that I value, and a strong relationship. Though things may be changing, I have to make the best of my situation and trust that what is meant to be will work out. I can stay close to everyone that has impacted me this summer while excelling in school to the best of my ability.

Summer coming to a close is not an ending, but a new beginning in which I can hold on to what is important to me while looking forward to what this new school year has to offer.