Retrospect

This summer was the summer of feeling hermit crabs with our bare feet in the sand at the bottom of the ocean and giving them to little kids on shore, of imitating Jason Bourne floating in the water and of watching far too much America’s Next Top Model, What Not to Wear, Top Chef and How I Met Your Mother. It was the summer of starting up a conversation in Italian with real live Italians at my favorite cafe in the world, of learning French and Spanish phrases from an app on my iPhone with my cousin while walking around the neighborhood, of learning sign language at Barnes and Noble on the hard carpet, of visiting Taylor Swift’s childhood hangout, and of watching in disbelief as the cousin made a wallet-busting purchase of ten dollars on a purple (waterproof) watch in a New Jersey toy store. It was the summer of the four dollar cappuccino (my bailout plan: everyone buys one Starbucks drink per day), of red lipstick and of musk melon. This was the summer of trying to eke out a college essay, of deciding not to pierce my earlobes, of refusing to buy the Japanese erasers that looked like fast food and of finally buying a “Kudos” sticky note pad (kudos on your sobriety). This was the summer of sharing the car with my brother, of actually reading books, of getting deliciously lost in Central Park and winding up at a castle, of Fairway’s Famous Toasted Granola, and of a viking-themed birthday cake. It was the summer of chocolate chip pancakes and cookiekatie, of my henna tattoo, of the badass bruise on my cousin’s arm (you know how basketball camp can be), of playing pool and ping pong with boys from the Northeast who I’d never met, and of yoga on the great lawn overlooking the moon rising behind the brightening NY skyline. It was the summer of peanut m&ms, like always, of J. crew outlet shopping, of the ghetto mall, of bananagrams at my uncle’s deli, and of breaking the elevator button in the apartment and having awkward negotiations with the doorman before opting to dash up the stairs. It was also the summer of being ripped off at an otherwise delightfully haunting, Poe-themed cafe.

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