Brody Week 16: Summers and Winters
I don’t separate my past by years. There’s too much contrast between the beginning and end of each year to classify them in the same era. Instead, I separate it through the seasons and events.
For example, Summer 2024. The vibe of last summer felt perfect. I remember getting off of work, driving home towards the sunset, with an immaculate music taste blasting throughout my car, rolling my window down and feeling the breeze graze by me, cooling my face from a full day in the sun. It was moments like this that truly made 2024 summer memorable.
Another example being Winter 2022-23. Again, just the vibe at the time is something I constantly reminisce about. The music that was popular at the time was amazing, with artists like D4VD, SZA, and Fifty Fifty releasing amazing music that year. School at the time, while then feeling quite typical, now seems surreal. I know a lot of people don’t look back on their freshman year too fondly, but I do. School wasn’t as stressful, I wasn’t overworking myself with insane extracurriculars, and I didn’t have to focus too much on college. Especially during the winter, the end of the year still seemed far away but I was in school enough to feel comfortable with where I was.
I look at where I’m at now, and wonder how I’m gonna separate this era of my life. Summer 2024 and Winter 2022-23 were separated by their seasons, so I’m curious if I’m going to categorize this time of my life with the season or with specific events.
I also wonder if I’m going to look back in the future at me now and think fondly of where I am. Right now, with AP exams and finals occurring all within the span of 4 weeks, it seems pretty stressful. But I don’t know if there’s certain parts of my life that I’m overlooking now but will appreciate in the future. I didn’t think too much about my drives home from work, or the simplicity of school freshman year, but I do now, so we’ll see.
Despite how stressful things are right now, however, I’m excited for summer. I already have a lot of trips planned, so hopefully, instead of it being a season I don’t appreciate until later on, it’ll be a season I appreciate in the moment AND in the future.
Hey Brody! I've been thinking of this same idea for quite some time now, especially upon realizing how fast we are becoming seniors this summer. You put my thoughts into paper beautifully, and I loved the little details that you added with your summer job or how un-stressful freshmen year was. As I read your work, I realized how much our own past can often feel like a movie. Especially that part where you were talking about your driving back from work--every moment is a potential little clip for the movies in our mind. I completely agree with your point of making this summer one to remember. I think with all the craziness that has been high school, we more than deserve it. I think it's funny that in a few years, or maybe even in a few years, all the stress that we take thinking about our extracurriculars, AP's, and all of that jazz, will be reduced to stories we tell each other. In that way, I suppose we truly should live in the moment like you said, and capture every moment we can before we get there. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your work this semester. Happy Summer!!
ReplyDeleteHi Brody! Due to the nature of our school system, I also categorize my life by seasons and feelings. Whenever I hear certain music that I used to listen to at a particular stage in my life, I am immediately overtaken by nostalgia and transported back to the times when I was playing that song was on repeat. I can relate to the feeling of looking back at my previous years and reminiscing about how little work I had to do, even thought it did not feel like that at the time, but that may be due to our tendencies to fill up our time with the little tasks we have. Everyone is rushing to finish the school year and move quickly to summer (myself included) but I do wonder if I will miss this period of my life in the future. The classes I have and friends I have made in them will all change next year and although we are all excited for our senior year, I think it is important to appreciate what we have right now, before it is over. Thank you for all of your amazing blogs this year and I enjoyed reading your work this quarter!
ReplyDeleteHi Brody, I have to agree with your point here. This year has felt like a continuous push towards the next assignment, the next deadline, and I can’t help but compare it to my past. Back before this year, I remember times when I went out with my entire friend group, but this year we’re all just too busy. However, I will concede that there have been occasional spots of memorable moments, but not too many. I also completely agree that we are likely missing a LOT of things that happened, and that looking at this year in hindsight will reveal many more fond memories. And yes, “Cheap Thrills” has that exact same effect for me, where I suddenly remember my life back in elementary school when this song would show up on the car radio at least twice a day. I really loved your blog, and just reading it allowed me to think nostalgically about the past, which I rather enjoyed.
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ReplyDeleteHi Brody! I really think that your view of time passing is so beautiful. Instead of seeing each year as a milestone you choose to focus on major events and seasons. That's something I really resonate with. Within a year so much happens. I feel like it is too big to categorize the entirety of my memories under one year. I wanna implement your mindset pon my life. Instead of viewing my life as 16 years of existence I will see it has a collection of milestones over the span of dozens of seasons. I really felt like your blog exemplified this and you write this beautifully. Thank you for your blog and I hope you have a good summer.