As the end of August approaches, we are forced to face the realization that summer isn’t actually infinite, like the popular band’s name might suggest. The start of school is now in the single digits, and while it’s exciting to say hello to a new school year, it's extremely hard to say goodbye to summer. Summer is more than just warm weather and swimming pools. It’s the freedom of time. Summer provides enough time to go on that big trip with friends, or to not feel guilty about sleeping till three in the afternoon at a sleepover. It’s a great ride, this freedom, but I think that we would all agree is that this time has passed more quickly than we could have ever expected.
If you find yourself wondering what made these months of freedom so incredibly special, here’s the answer: your friends. They fill your photo albums with their happy faces and they fill your hearts with happy memories. These people that we’ve grown so close to are everything, they’ve shown us a great time and for that, we love them.
However, a goodbye is coming, and this time it’s a real one.It’s hard to sit in the present and be so unsure of the future. It's hard to wonder how these people will grow, and to be jealous that this journey of theirs is one apart from you. Everything about this is difficult. We might reassure one another with promises of visiting often and calling weekly, and we hope that we actually fulfill these. As challenging and as scary as this goodbye will be, we are lucky that we have people in our lives that make saying those two words so hard.
For the moments when we’re not near enough for a hug and our Skype’s connection once again fails, we can remember that, for as far as man knows, time is infinite, and no separation has to be forever. However hard it may be, and however long our time apart might last, the time we get together will always be sweet. For the last hug we have until “goodbye” we will hold one another tight and cherish our bond.
These special people in our lives have given us so much time and so much joy, and for that, we just hope to see them happy, we hope for their goals to be accomplished, and we hope that whomever they are soon to call “friend” respects just how much they have to offer.
“The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye...until we meet again”
― Jimi Hendrix
