pretty mama, come and take me by the hand

It’s getting near summer. I can feel it in the air; I can feel it in my blood. Summer is MY time of year. I love the heat. I love the lazy days. I love the music. I love the water. I love my birthday. I love the feeling that the day is going to last forever, but so is the night.

This summer is going to be… well, different. For the first time I’m not doing organizational crap. For the first time, I’m going to be a COLLEGE GRADUATE. Of course, grad school looms, but this is the first summer where I truly feel like I’m going to be an adult. I’ll be living at home, yes, but I’ll be working (hopefully a job that actually relates to my future career…) full-time. I’m hoping to get back here to visit the friends who are still in college, but I foresee SO much money-making and NOT a lot of money-spending.

In my quest to be grown-up, budgeting is still an obstacle I haven’t surmounted. [Procrastination is another, but that’s going to be saved for another time… irony, no?] So this summer is going to be an experiment in budgeting—can I be an adult about working the maximum hours I can to get the maximum amount of money, and limiting my activities to the minimum amount of money spent for the maximum amount of fun?

I’m getting ahead of myself. The end of school still looms… three term papers, applications and selections for organizations, and final events like dances, socials, and banquets. I find myself waxing nostalgic about my college days (these really have been the BEST days of my life), but less apprehensive and more excited about my future, especially now that I know where I’m going and what I’m doing. The next seven weeks especially involve me trying to solidify friendships and let the beautiful and wonderful people I’ve met during my time here know that I want to be their friend long beyond college, and I’m going to do my best to keep up with our relationship. I’ve started to tie up emotional loose ends [more about that in another post soon], and to really invest in my friends.

One way or another, summer2010 is going to be a beautiful thing. And a thing of beauty is a joy forever.