Summer break is so close and the anticipation is real. I think I speak for a lot of people in saying that summer is the best time of the year. Life seems to move a little bit slower, and things seem to be more enjoyable. I’m still in college, so summer just means getting a summer job or an internship, and maybe taking a class or two. It’s not much, but its keeps me busy enough to avoid boredom. Life seems easy in the summer and obviously that won’t last forever, but it’s something to appreciate now. I have been thinking a lot recently about how pure summers were as a kid, and that we will never really get that back. Summer vacation as a little kid created some of my favorite memories, and makes it easy for me to miss those times now.

Now, summers are still great, but they’re different. They aren’t as innocent as when we were kids, and part of me misses that. These days, summers are all about partying and adventuring and ‘not missing out’ on anything. It’s great, and allows for some incredible experiences. But we can’t really have both; the old summers are the new. We wouldn’t really want to, either. Growing up means saying goodbye to childhood summers, and all the great things they entailed.

So here’s to the long, warm days where we truly didn’t have any obligations. I’m going to miss the endless hours spent at the pool, with ample snacks and sunscreen for the entire day. I will miss the afternoons filled with homemade lemonade and terrible sidewalk chalk art. I will miss the nights playing sardines with all of the kids in the neighborhood, which were simple nights and still so fun.

We all have our own experiences that are the staple moments of summer, the things we wont forget. I will always remember watching fireworks from the hidden baseball fields with my family on the Fourth of July. I remember the walks my family took down to the river almost every night, and how the kids would spend the entire time trying to catch frogs and spot beavers in the river. And what is summer without at least one road trip to a national park? Not a summer at all. Everyone has them, the traditions and routines that made up your summers. They were normal at the time, but they have created dear memories now.

And the summer memories are endless. There were baseball games, soccer games, and basketball in the rain. There were thunderstorms and forts built and candles to keep the house light. There were sleepovers under the stars and pancakes in the morning. There were bike rides and bike crashes, and rollerblades that were only used once. There were road trips and junk food, and always a hotel with a pool. There were sunburns and suntans, and plenty of photos to document both. Most importantly, there were good times with good people. These are the things that made up my summers, and what made them so incredibly precious.

Honestly, it makes me sad to think all of those things are gone. Once you grow up, there really isn’t any going back. We can’t stop time, and childhood is going to keep moving further into the past. Cherish your own memories, because even though summers as an adult have their own set of perks, we wont ever get that simple innocence of our childhood summers back.