Today I am beginning to taste the first hints of fall.

Which means, our time together has come to an end.

My whole life, you have been something I’ve hated.

With you, activity halted and life became lonely.

But this year, something happened.

This year, I learned to love you.

I learned to appreciate the moments that you gave me with my parents, with my siblings, with my friends. I learned to like the way I looked in shorts and dresses, and I even wore a two piece for the first time since I was two.

I learned that movement doesn’t stop and summer isn’t the end, just a new beginning, and a chance for things gone dormant.

Most importantly, I learned that more than anything else, you are vital to the way that we grow.

You allow for us to come together after activity has kept us so far apart. You remind us of the time that we leave behind so quickly when we’re too busy to pay attention to it.

You, my friend, are the break from ourselves that we didn’t even know that we needed.

So, thank you.

Thank you for June and its adventures.

The graduation I got to have.

The family vacation we celebrated and adored.

The girls trip that marked childhood’s end.

Thank you for July and its late, warm nights.

The rain of fireworks below my knees and above their heads.

The crooked parking and Lumineers songs blasting through the Bluetooth.

The sweet scent of salt waves and the sun that sang against my skin.

And thank you for August.

For the way it carried on despite its fear of fall.

For the solitude and the time and the way the silence became a bubble.

For the growth you made me celebrate, and the growing you told me I still needed to do.

You were, the best moment in time.

-Kate Santos,

Wednesday, September 1st, 2021

Closest thing to hometown, CA, USA

17 years old