Summer is Like Lightning

I must confess to being shocked that July is almost over. Like any self-respecting student, I blame school. 'How can you do that in the summer?', you most certainly shall ask. Two words: summer classes.
I'm not sure how this happened but summer - the holiest of holy times for the young pupils of the world - lost quality which made school children everywhere long for it's balmy presence: emptiness.

Of course I'm not talking about the lonely, cold sort of emptiness that sinks to the bottom of your stomach and lingers there like a bad meal. The emptiness of summer was so appealing simply because it begged to be filled with the machinations of the youthful imagination. On Tuesday morning you could be an explorer, scheduled to make an Earth-shattering discovery before you were called in to lunch. Wednesday afternoons could be filled with bike rides and extra-long freeze-pops that left your hands chilled and sticky. I could fill pages and pages with the memories of childhood summers. My nostalgia stems from the realization that there are very few people I know who actually have free time in the summer. I suppose this is just another transition on the Road to Adulthood.

Summer is now just another term in the school year: a time to catch up on missing credits, or to get ahead in ones' studies. It's a time to collect extra income so one can survive another year as a broke student. Many (if not all) of those close to me have realized that a three-month-long empty summer was a gift only children can hope to receive.

Summer is indeed like lightning, you can feel it in the air. The sensation clings to your skin and hair, electricity in the air demands all your attention as your nerves twinge and spasm. Just when you think it's never going to come, the world stands completely still. For all of a moment that seems like eternity you hang in the Void. And then summer is here.

Summer is violent, liberating, exciting and terrifying at the same time. Some spend it hidden under their beds while other run into it, throwing their heads back and spreading their arms wide to welcome the tempest.

When summer ends, all that's left are memories and damp clothing.

I'll be disappearing for a week to go camping in the Canadian Wilderness. There shall be tales and pictures upon my return. I might leave a thought or two to appear whilst I am away.