Why Endless Summer?

As a child, I've always looked forward to summer.  Summer means no school, no homework.  I've got all the time (and the food) in the world!  Well, at least for 2 months or so until school starts in June.

I grew up living in a condo so I spent most of my time indoors.  Summer meant more time to watch TV, read books, chat with friends on the phone (yes, I used to abuse the landline), surf the net, play computer games and do whatever I want.  Basically, summer is the perfect time to relax and loaf around.  But those are not the only reasons why I love summer.  I love it so much because it is one of the few times in a year (aside from Christmas) that I get to spend a lot of time with my family.  Thanks to Holy Week, everyone's on vacation and it's the perfect time to go on long family trips and not just weekend getaways.

My parents love to travel and like me, they have travel buddies too.  When everyone in their barkada got married, they never stopped traveling.  Instead, they brought their families along and the kids (us!) became the next generation of their barkada.  We were friends even before we were born so that makes us FFFs - fetal friends forever!

Early on, our parents involved us in planning trips.  I always get excited in choosing our next destination, creating the itinerary, buying groceries and other necessities for our trip, and trying to fit everything in our bags.  That  sparked my love for traveling but it wasn't until I got my own job and paid for my own trips that I learned to appreciate it even more.  I realized traveling doesn't have to be expensive.  And it doesn't have to be all about taking good photos, shopping, food-tripping, finding the perfect magnet or souvenir t-shirt, or crossing something off your bucket list.  As I visited more places, I realized that traveling is more fulfilling than that.  It's about creating memories, learning from experiences, conquering my fears, discovering new joys, spending time with friends and making new ones, appreciating different cultures and learning to take things into perspective while appreciating God's creation.  Traveling has opened my eyes and my mind to a lot of things.

Whenever a trip ends, I get the same feeling I used to get as a child whenever summer ends.  School work starts and it's back to reality for me.  But as I face reality, I'm reminded of a summer well-spent and that keeps me going.  And then it's back to waiting.  Back to dreaming and planning for the next summer to come.

Of course, I can't have 365 days of summer in a year (or 366 for leap years) so instead, I dream of an endless summer full of adventures and memories that will last me a lifetime.  Hopefully when I'm old and gray, I can look back on my life and say it was a summer well-spent. :)

Note: In relation to the blog title, go and listen to Last First Kiss by The Summer Set and Bleach Blonde by This Century.  Lovely songs (by bands I love) that remind me of summer and incidentally have "endless summer" in their lyrics.