Summer's Kiss of Death

Today is the kiss of death for summer. Usually I would be a little sad but also relieved for the new schedule and the absence of 40-hour work weeks. But for the first time in 17 years, Labor Day doesn't mean I'll be returning to school the next day. It just marks, in a traditional sense, that summer is over. Adios. Hasta luego. Life goes on.

Tonight, instead of picking out my clothes to wear the next day and getting my backpack ready, I'm writing cover letters and revising resumes. I'm reading a recent purchase, Running With Scissors. I'm talking to my mom and sister for hours on end.

It's unfamiliar. At 17, I was jealous of this day -- the first day when I wouldn't have to go to school. Today it's the other way around. At least, I don't mind the idea of having to go to classes at the University tomorrow.

Now I'm truly an adult with financial responsibilities and a job, although it's less a job and more like a hobby -- something I enjoy doing every day. I wasn't quite sure this time would come. When it did in May, it didn't feel awkward. Like every summer for the last four years, I was used to going somewhere new for an internship.

Tomorrow the internship continues, as it will for the next four months. I'm pretty sure each day reality will set in more. I'm not in school anymore.

Summer is over, but nothing new begins.