Has Your Summer Closed Up Yet?

When I was in college, I remember the first week-and-a-half of every semester as being full of possibility. Anything could happen, and I could choose what might happen.

I also remember it as being a sort of race against an intangible clock; me forging my own destiny vs. the minute where I’d sit down with my stack of syllabi and realize that my destiny had already been decided for me. I’d have a major assignment due every week and rehearsals and performances every weekend.

It always felt like the semester had closed up around me, the expanse of time clamping together into a calendar-shaped cage where every evening and weekend had already been filled, and the only thing I could do was race from one commitment to another.

We are still two weeks away from the first day of summer, and I already feel like my summer has closed up around me.

At this point, I have plans for seven of the twelve weekends between now and Labor Day. (I know more than one friend who has plans for all twelve.) Nearly all of these plans are things I want to do. Aside from a family reunion, none of them are really “a vacation,” and I’m already thinking about maybe pushing my summer vacation off until September — if I choose to take one at all.

The other factor here is, of course, money. I’ve started a tally of how much my summer might cost, and I plan to share all of those numbers with you tomorrow, but let’s just say that it’s going to be in the $2,000s. In many ways I feel like my summer has closed up around me financially as well as calendrically. This is also before I count up the potential costs of moving, which — well, I’m kind of thinking that I’ll have to push that off until September too.

It is very smart to keep some weekends free for literally resting. It is also very, very smart to sit down in June and figure out exactly what cash you have promised to which responsibility before you add anything new to your calendar.

But that also means that this summer feels absent of possibility. It’s already closed for new ideas and new experiences. All I have to do is race from one commitment to another.

What about you?

This story is part of our Travel Month series.

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