what will you do when your suntan is faded and the summer's gone?

the new york times recently did an article about the last days of summer in stone harbor, nj - the tiny south jersey beach town where i spent all of my summers as a kid. it's been a long time since i've spent any significant time there - by college i'd left behind summer jobs scooping ice cream for resume-building internships, settling for weekends at the shore. but those summers left little footprints in my brain, and i can still taste the bittersweet ending of summer inside my mouth.

summer is ending here too, but i'm not going back to school. i still don't know what i'm doing. i suppose i should feel sad, but i'm not - i'm excited. i have a blank slate and the rest of my life in front of me. i was sad to leave hawaii, but i'm ready to begin.