Summers To Come

While I was uploading the previous pictures onto my blog, the Coldplay song "Clocks" came on Pandora. Suddenly, I was thrown into a spiral of memories came into my head and I couldn't help but smile to myself. The stages of my life are categorized by songs. Each song is part of a different part of life. For example, the freedoms of summer and the adventures that followed. I think the combination of the beautiful sunny skies today and "Clocks" made me realize how influential music has been in my summers. Last summer, I was confined to an indoor, full-time job all summer, saving money for college in the fall. They always played 101.3 PM or whatever that slow rock station is. They played the same songs at the same time everyday, like Elton John's "Rocket Man" around 5:30 or so and the Paul McCartney "Silly Love Songs" sometime in the afternoon. Almost every day. So now whenever I hear those songs now I think of my days working as a receptionist in a medical clinic. Whenever I hear certain songs by Relient K or Switchfoot, I can't help but think about the summer before, which I spent mostly with my first boyfriend. This summer I predict that I'll remember by "Right Round" by Flo Rida, "How Do You Sleep?" by Jesse McCartney, or "Poker Face" by Lady GaGa because that's all that's on the radio.
When I hear these songs I think about how awesome my summers were and how this summer better pick up pace in order to compete. I'd HATE to waste a summer when I've had 18 other great ones. I think about my friend Seth and how close we got last summer because all we had was work and each other. I think about EFY, Girls' Camp, and all of the people I met that I'm still close to today. I think about how I was worried about finishing my stupid summer reading for the next year of school. I remember the 4th of July's in the Cul-De-Sac with the neighbors, making sure the boys didn't blow each other up and how we tried to avoid the cops coming to make us throw away our Washington fireworks. I remember getting into pools at apartment complexes by knowing people in my ward. I remember only caring about the present and whether or not I was going to get any more tan-er that day. That was the life.
This summer, a best friend that I met at Girls' Camp is getting married. Job hunting isn't as easy. I'm doing adult things like shopping for cars, signing up for classes at college, cooking with my mom. I'm more focused on the future and how I could utilize this summer: should I take online classes and take a step forward in my education, or should I just relax since this is probably my last "free" summer for the rest of my life?

We'll see where this summer will take me.