This time of year always finds me freaking out. When the weather breaks and I begin cutting back on takeout and DVR, I start to feel a little excitement paired with extreme anxiety. The above 50 degree weather, the start of baseball season, and the longer days have always signified both a beginning and an end–the beginning of the summer holiday season but the end of the academic year to which I have grown so accustomed. The beginning of what’s to come in August but the end of what started last August. I’ve spent my life marking the passage of time through the changing of seasons. And once the seasons change and those damn birds start chirping, there is little avoiding the fact that months really are passing and decisions must be made.

The problem is that this has led me to struggle with actually enjoying my summers. I spend so much time stressing over what’s to come that I sometimes miss out the fun of these three, glorious months. Instead of letting May through July become a dead zone for activity and fun, I will spend it going to Tigers games, walking in my neighborhood, drinking on patios, and reading on my porch. I vow to rise and set with the sun as much as I can. I don’t know yet what August brings, but I know it doesn’t come tomorrow. So in the meantime, I’m going to get some much needed vitamin D.