Usually around this time I’d be singing the end of summer blues… because school would be just around the corner, and in a matter of weeks I’d be thrust into the same old school routine. Soon enough I’d be checking my schedule, double checking my classes, wondering who I’d have classes with, wondering how the professors I didn’t know would teach…mom and I would go shopping for a few new fall outfits…and although it was always bittersweet going back once the first week was under my belt it would feel pretty normal. And before I knew it it’d be Christmas break. That first semester always flew by, something that at the time I was grateful for.  I’m the type of kid who liked to get the new school supplies, a new notebook and folder, I would look at the start of the school year as a new beginning. But now as I look ahead, slapped in the face by all the “Back to School” commercials, and school supply filled store aisles, I feel a sense of sadness. That bittersweet feeling is back, but it’s different. Because this time there’s nothing to go back to, I’m done…no more school. Guess I’ll have to trade in my new books and school clothes for resume updates and interview appropriate clothes shopping. It’s not as though I wish I was going back to sit in a classroom and listen to someone speak for 3 hours, (definitely won’t be missing the studying for midterms and finals) but it’s more of a matter of missing the familiarity of it. I’m gonna miss that feeling of home, where the professors knew me and valued my abilities and ideas. It’s a weird feeling, and I think that I may feel differently once I get a job doing something I’m passionate about, but for now there’s just this. It’s strange all those years going to school day after day, year after year, and always waiting and wishing for the moment that it would all just end. That last semester of college…I could not wait for the summer…graduation was a blessing (the concept, not the actual long ass ceremony) but after it ended I don’t think it truly hit me. I thought it had, but I think I was wrong, maybe it still hasn’t even hit me. I’ve always thought “When I’m older I’ll understand,” “When I’m older I’ll be better.” And now that I am older, and even considered an adult, I feel as though I just don’t know how to handle it. Once September comes, I think that’s when I’m really gonna feel it. No more school supplies, no more hunting down the cheapest textbooks, no more dealing with annoying financial aid office crap…but there is one thing that still remains….LOANS! Oh the joys of being a college graduate…I guess to get myself out of these Not Back to School Blues, I’ll just have to stay busy, and focus on the positive…my goddaughter’s first of many will be coming up….everything this year will be new to her, and I can’t wait to watch her grow! And last but not least…The Job Hunt will be fierce…who’s hiring? I’ll write my ass off! God Speed my fellow blues singers… and if you are going back to school…. make the most of every second, and learn every life lesson you can, because when it’s over you’ll miss it!

I’m gonna leave you with this speech Ashton Kutcher made at this year’s TCA’s… it was actually really inspirational and I thought it was really well said and a well crafted message to teens everywhere (and adults!)

Remember kids always be “Sexy!”

And “Everything around us that we call life was made up by people that are no smarter than you,

and you can build your own things…so build a life don’t live one, build one.”

-<3-