Looking Back on Summers Long Gone

There isn’t much detail I can give. There isn’t much I can say. The innocent need to be protected. With all of this in mind, I still must attempt to tackle the two summers before I left Oklahoma. There is no doubt in my mind they were the most formative of my life. Over the course of six months spanning two years, I learned about pain and passion, joy and betrayal, love and loss, needs and wants. I was shaped and molded because of these interactions. I will never forget them.

One day in the future, I will look back at the moments that forced me to change course and take a different path. College, moving, relationships, volunteering, getting involved in my community, travel, and these two summers all share something in common; when the dust settled I had grown into a new version of myself. The person who began each of these journeys is not the same person who emerged on the other side. These were trials filled with tribulation and, on occasion, sheer joy, but they were so very necessary for my personal development.

What made these two particular summers special was how wild and unexpected they were. Never in my life have I been so free. Sure, pouring my heart out to someone and letting relationships progress naturally was fraught with danger. There was always a chance someone could get hurt, but in the end, none of that mattered. The two individuals I found…