"If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane." -John Green

Most of my friends long for summer. They want the sun, the fun, the sleeping in, the hakuna-matata-esque lifestyle they lead for a a few warm months each year.

The poem “A Letter Sent to Summer” by Jane Shore reminds me a lot of that longing.

In some ways, I completely understand why people love summer so much. Sunshine can invigorate you. It makes you feel good on the inside and the out. It’s scientifically proven that warmer climates promote more positive attitudes. Now, I can’t cite that, but it’s what I’ve read.

Personally, summer kind of bums me out. I have fair skin which burns easily. I don’t like swimming. I detest the beach (it’s heat, humidity, sand, and salt).

So, I’d rather talk about the underlying theme of this poem: the summertime of the the mind. It reminds me of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The longing for bliss, for an escape from the harshness of the world, the bite of the cold, the loneliness of the winter. It’s easy to get stuck in that “season” of the mind.

But even the good times aren’t all good. Summer, for most students, is a time of mental stagnation. It’s a season during which we are programmed to “relax and have fun”, even when there are better things we could be doing.

I don’t think that we should have school during the summer or anything like that. I think breaks are a healthy part of the developing mind and important when you’re learning, well, anything. Sometimes you have to take a step back and look at what you’ve done so far in order to figure out how to progress.

In fact, I had to take a break from writing this very entry before I could finish it. Often, when you set something aside, you can see it from a different perspective when you return.

Moving to a more personal note, I think that this summer will be especially important to me. During it, I will wash myself clean of whatever high school crap may be clinging onto me. I’ll prepare myself for the brand newness of the four years to come by discarding the staleness of my life thus far.

I need to step out for a while. Spring break did nothing for me because I was surrounded by the same people, the same people who weigh me down and inadvertently force me into unhappiness.

So, while I don’t like the season of summer, I love and I need the idea of summer. And I’m going to embrace it.