Summer Memories & Mistakes

I was twenty and she was eighteen

We just about as wild as we were green

In the ways of the world

She picked me up in that red ragtop

We were free of the folks and hiding from the cops

On a summer night, running all the red lights

I miss summer so much.  I think I always will, especially the summer of 2010.  I think that every person who lives in such a freezing cold wasteland like Illinois misses summer when we get 18 inches of snow on the ground.  But I not only miss it because of the warmth, I miss it because of the times that I had.

Summer 2010 brought me a new best friend.  I started getting really close with this girl I worked with, who was a year older than me and also lived a very, very different lifestyle.  I, myself, lead a pretty boring life.  I've always stayed away from drinking and smoking and all of that kind of stuff.  But once I met this new friend, I was intrigued by her lifestyle.  She liked to party.  Don't get me wrong, she was responsible and didn't drink and drive and all that stuff.  But she drank quite a lot.  She hung out with these boys, who I began spending a lot of time with, as well.  And it was just fun.

There was one boy in particular that we spent a lot of time with.  He caused us a lot of fights though, because she gave me a lack of attention.  They didn't date, but they were close friends.  He liked her, but she didn't feel the same way.  We began spending almost every night with him.  We'd go swimming in the pond his family owned and we'd watch the stars late at night together.  We would drive around for hours talking and listening to the radio. The three of us really became good friends.

Once summer ended, us and the boy stopped talking.  And I watched my friendship with my friend fall apart.  Recently, we haven't really talked and haven't really wanted anything to do with one another.  It's sad, but it was somewhat my choice.  I miss her.  A lot.  And there are days when I really, really need her.  But...she's still there no matter what, which is nice.  I still talk to him, through texting, although I haven't seen him since, like October.  His sister goes to my school, so I am able to talk to her, but I miss hanging out with him and being around him.  He was always a really fun guy.

"Red Ragtop" by Tim McGraw reminds of my summer so much.  Because he was 20, and my friend was 18, and despite the fact that they never had sex and she never got pregnant with his baby, it just brings me back to the times when we hung out.  It also reminds me of summer because that's when I discovered the song in the first place.  

I realize now that maybe I should have spent a little less time with this one friend, and maybe spent a little more with my other friends.  My whole world kind of revolved around her.  It was her way or the high way and I definitely didn't want her out of my life, so I let her have her way.  I'd do whatever she wanted me to do.  I tried things I wouldn't have normally tried, but it was what our friendship was.  I hurt a lot of my other friend's feelings, and I lost a lot of friends over the summer.  Not a lot of people really like her because, not only of her reputation, but because of her attitude and her personality.  When I began to spend so much time with her, I'll admit I did kind of start acting like her, and people just didn't want to be around it.

Although this experience helped me realize who my true friends were, I still miss some of those old friends I used to spend my time with.  Summer 2010 was the best of my life, and I hope that summer 2011, the summer before college, is even better.  Maybe I'll even make another new best friend, although now I am hesitant.