For as long as I can remember, summer was my least favorite season. I thought of it as an overrated waiting game. I hated the heat, and my pale skin hated the sun. And I never understood the apparent joyous event of the end of the school year like everyone around me did. For me, summer was associated with endless sunburns, sibling fights, and boredom. Yet, the older I get, the more I love it.
Being in college changes your perspective on summers in your hometown. Here in Minnesota, the buds have barely bloomed by the time we leave campus for summer break, but at home, everything has been flourishing for months. Outside feels bright and warm, and not in an obnoxious way. The sunsets may not be accompanied by Minnesota’s scenic nature, but they still feel spectacular — even though the sites in my hometown consist of plains and the occasional mediocre lake. I can go on sunset drives with my friends, my old friends that I’ve known for years, and see memories everywhere we pass. The boba place where we used to play cards. My first job. My middle school (oh, the cringe). The trail where I walked my childhood dog. The mall where my sister and I would scramble for last-minute Christmas gifts. The busy intersection I dreaded when riding my bike.
It took time for me to see it this way. Summer after my freshman year, I wasn’t super thrilled to be home. I was focused on the hard reality of being states away from my college boyfriend and new friends. I thought of having to work all the time, and how lame my day to day life would be in contrast to my life at college. Now, about to end my junior year, I see it differently. Coming home isn’t just about missing people or places — it’s about reconnecting with a part of myself that’s easy to forget during the busy months away. Summer isn’t a waiting game anymore; it’s a season that feels earned, full of familiar roads, small memories, and the quiet comfort of knowing exactly where I am. I’m no longer ashamed to call the somewhat lame state of Kansas my home, and I can thank summers in between years at college for helping me take pride in its unexpected beauty.
