Every year, as August rolls around, we all get a little sad that summer is coming to an end. Stores put out their ‘back to school supplies’ and fall apparel, and you start to wonder where your summer went. But this summer is especially heartbreaking because this summer on your first day of school, you’re not back home by three o’clock, you’re at college and you’re gone. This month we have to say goodbye to our homes, siblings, pets, friends and boyfriend who we’ll have to go without seeing for months. By the end of this month we’ll be off in the world on our own, for the first time ever.

Living alone for the first time is so exciting; we have all these new freedoms we’ve never known before. There are no longer any parents to give you a curfew, or to tell you that you can’t eat pizza at 4 am. However, new freedoms come with new responsibilities and we all have to learn to live independently and take care of ourselves on our own. But that’s only half the learning that happens when a child leaves for college, your family has to adjust and learn to live without you around too. What is mom going to do when she has to send a photo from her iPhone and we’re not there to do it for her? Who will eat breakfast with dad every morning and laugh at all his ‘number two’ jokes? Who is going to tell my little brother that his haircut is ridiculous and he needs to immediately get it fixed? They’re worried about us making it on our own, but how will they make it without their eighteen-year-old? It’s not as if moody teenagers hold the very foundation of a family unit together...but then again they sort of do. Because that’s what a family is. It’s all the people you love together and with a piece missing, it’s not the same, there’s change for everyone.

In August you’ve got to make summer memories last: hometown high school memories. You’ve got to cherish them all before you’ve all left. Meet up with your high school clique and do the same stupid stuff you’ve been doing for years, go to your family’s favorite restaurant all together, go to the drive-in movies with your boyfriend, take pictures on the beach with your best friend, make all the memories you can, and make everything count. Take pictures of all the things you love, because truthfully they won’t ever be exactly the same as they are right now. Cherish your August, you’ll miss it this year.