When someone asks me how my summer’s been going, I usually respond with “pretty good!” or “it’s been great!” or “I’m having so much fun!” because there’s no easy or casual way to say that this summer has been so full of love and growing and happiness. Whether it be a friend or a cousin or a boy or a coach or a sibling, I’ve felt so much gratitude for the moments I’ve gotten to share with loved ones this summer. Time really does fly by, and it’s hard to believe that in a year from now I’ll be the one packing up my life and moving away. I’ve learned that nothing lasts forever, but the experiences and lessons we learn from the beloved memories with important people teach us and comfort us way more than fighting change. People come and go, but the way they made us feel never fades away. Going downtown with girlfriends and spontaneous coffee runs and the first date and whipping out a piece of cheesecake in a movie theater and supporting a friend’s local production and 2 am phone calls and Pokeman hunting in the sculpture garden (not my choice) will always remind of the summer of twenty-sixteen. Eternally grateful to have felt myself grow as a friend and sibling and peer in the past two months, and even more grateful to have felt more love than I could’ve imagined in that time.