Photo provided.
Warm summer days, the sweat building between your fingers as you carry cardboard boxes that hold your belongings. Tired legs carry them up the stairs to set them down in the room you will settle in for the coming year. Windows open at night, fan blaring in need of the cool air, to be closed in the morning in hopes of obtaining that temperature. We know it all starts with the smell of the air.
Soon, the boxes are fully unpacked, and the windows stay closed for most of the day, rarely too warm to open them. This is the time of year when everything is in motion. Sports are starting to kick into the depths of their season, and the wind is turning colder by that day. We are all longing for a break when the snow is up to our kneecaps, and knowing we are halfway done.
Footsteps lead the way to the doors of the school, where everyone is returning from a needed break. Even with the heat low, the rooms can get toasty after two weeks. The windows are then cracked.
The big ‘N’ on the mats by the door is faded with mud from the melting snow. Moral hangs low with the seasons ending and the groggy weather outside. The windows stay closed to all unless you like the sound of rain. We all feel the weather changing, everything sprouting.
Finally, the sun is out. And the windows are back open. Outside, you can hear laughter and competition in the spring games. The smell of rain still lingers, but morale is up now. We are in between the hardship of a losing season, and for many of us, thinking about graduating. This is the time we enjoy the most.
Finally, the day has come. The weather is warm again, but the cardboard boxes are being packed. Our hands were sweaty as we retreated downstairs and placed them gently in the back of the cars. The last walk upstairs was to do final checks, and this is when you close the windows for the last time.