A New Season

Burning the midnight oil is an activity all to familiar to a college town's population, however tonight's occasion comes far more welcome than that of months' past. I'm stretched out on my living room sofa under an open window. The cool April breeze has a refreshing quality which I seem to have forgotten after six months of bitter, frozen air. The living room is sporadically illuminated by small explosions of light as the first season of Prison Break plays tirelessly on the TV. Yes, this is exactly the kind of night my mind has dangled before me like a carrot on a stick for the past nine months--the kind of night where no due dates hang overhead, where no homework has overtaken my dimly lit desk in a sprawling paper forest, where I have no 8:00 am obligations tomorrow, and where I can lie here watching a season of Prison Break and listen to the birds chirp playfully outside. Yes, spring is back, and with it comes the delightful prospect of a thousand other things just waiting to be seen and done.

Out front of our apartment sits the big blue dumpster, sleeping open-mouthed, revealing his recently ingested spoils, having just gorged himself on the garbage of a hundred students preparing for their seasonal migration. Only feet away from our over-stuffed, slumbering friend, just beyond the reach of the fallen crumbs of used moving boxes and old egg cartons lies the curb, eerily lacking in occupancy. Where the street had once looked like a social club for automobiles, every free inch taken by some gas-guzzling patron, now resides nothing but the oil stains of its former residents. Much like the curb, the streets lie dormant and unused but alas...this is summer in Provo and I love it.

So what does this summer have in store? Another academic dynasty has now passed. Gone are the days of backpack-bruised apples and smashed, half-fermented PB&J's, and snow-covered sidewalks which have never seen a shovel since they were laid. Come are the spring evenings of movie marathons, guilt-free frivolous activity (e.g. just laying in a park with a book and enjoying the fact that there's a clear sky), fishing, fireworks, thunderstorms, and barbecues.

Here's a brief recap of last summer...