The Last Summer

By Isabel Rodriguez

The last summer I’ll ever have was quick, fleeting, and unappreciated. I had just finished two semesters at a school I just transferred to, and my transition back to the south from the center Manila had not been a smooth one. I missed the busy, confusion of the metro; the buzz and the rush of the city. The suburbs of the south seemed too slow, too quiet, almost too relaxed. I figured it was just a matter of time before this point in my life passes so I decided to look for something to do in the meantime. I busied myself with work (a summer job). Time passed, and the summer was over. 


Thinking about it now, It seemed that the end to my summer days seemed so anti-climactic, it was almost sad. I mean, wasn’t I girl who prayed for summer to come? Didn’t I once attempt to create an unending summer that one time I decided to go on indefinite leave from responsibility? 

How or why I let my last summer end as it did is still a question I keep asking myself. I wracked my brain thinking of what I could have, should have, or would have done had I realized I would never have a summer to myself again.
Years back, my summers always seemed so.. magical. It was my time, filled with decisions I made (most resulted in disastrous scenarios, yet, I put high value on being able to decide on things.) I did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and learned from the mistakes (there were a whole lot) I made along the way. It was time for me to get to know myself (in between adventures, late night drinks, and juvenile, idiotic antics, of course.) 

Summer was when I learned of what true friendship was, or when I experienced the first semblance of falling in love with a boy. It was when I found my love for words and writing. It was a time of growth and discovery. 


I forgot, I guess, that there was more to life than getting to where you want to be. I kept on going because I needed to, because I was afraid of being late (more late than a 23 year old who’s still in college could get). I glossed over things hoping I’d catch up to where I should be. Instead, I lost that last summer. I lost it to my carelessness– charging towards the direction of where I thought I was supposed to be. 

I’m taking it one step at a time, now. With the realization that one should never let time just pass, I now understand that the right time matters more than we ever account for it. And, that we will all get there (wherever ‘there’ is), in our own pace. 

Next summer, I am to face the world as a graduate (finally). 

Maybe I will continue on with further studies. Maybe I will work 9-5 without ever seeing another summer ever again. Maybe I will finally find that one thing I am to do my whole life. Maybe It will be like a never ending summer: a time to learn and do things for myself. Maybe it won’t. 

We’ll see when I get there, I’m still living out the days before the summer I’m not supposed to have, comes.