A moment, a minute, a month, a season. It always passes by so quickly, and yet we spend most of the rest of the year longing for it. It’s because most people feel they’re at their best during the summers. They’re tan, happy, relaxed, and graced by sweet sunshine every day.

For me when I think about summers it’s not just the warm sun and soaking up coveted vacation time that comes to mind. Whenever I think about summer, especially the ones I had as a kid, my mind thinks about freedom. Salty air coating the back of my throat, the wind whipping past as my bicycle tires turn down a hill, all the while surrounded by people whose souls crave this type of release as much as I do.

For the first time in years, this summer brought me right back to that feeling. A fresh since of freedom in a city I had been longing to get to know a bit better. Living centrally in Back Bay, I immediately took to exploring restaurants, book stores and coffee shops. I perused through Cambridge, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Downtown Boston,and Charlestown throughout the past four months, constantly in search of something new. I met countless unique and beautiful people, all of whom hold a special place within my summer memories.

I spent my days with the sun rays both beating down on my warm skin and reflecting back at me as it shined off the water. I made four trips to the harbor islands and watched two sunsets from a sailboat. I traveled to New York, Mannasquan, Duxbury, Montreal, Providence, Cleveland, Hyannis, and Nantucket.

Words fail me to describe what this summer meant to me. My self-growth journey felt stunted for a good part of this past year. In all life’s journeys, you will face plateaus, but this season I finally started climbing my way up again. My creativity cracked open, I felt inspired and rejuvenated by life around me on a daily basis, and for that gift there is never enough gratitude.

Thanks for helping me feel free again summer 2018.