The curtains of summer: heat, wind, and water, which after being flung wide for so many weeks, have become tarnished, an unremarkable, everyday occurrence.

It seems plausible that we should be acclimated to it by now. But every year I can’t help but lament the depletion of another two months of my freedom behind me.

Let’s face it, summer is time wasted. But wasted time is time well spent to any wise teenager.

It may seem ironic to put “wise” and “teenager” side-by-side in the same sentence, but it’s true.

Those of us who have wiled away our freedom in an air-conditioned supermarket, or folding clothes at the thrift store for spare pocket change, that’s what I call time well wasted and no doubt, money well spent.

The truth is, unless you’re living your life to the fullest every single day of your life (and few of us are), you’re only wasting your time. Maybe it’s not the same heinous assumption that we’ve all arrived at, but the point is every summer will run its course.

Summer 2010: a year that didn’t wait for anyone, a year that instead chose to desert us all in a flash of heat and parched winds. So, maybe we can’t catch up to, slow down, or reverse time.

But we can dwell in the moment while it lasts. I think I speak for everyone when I say I wish summer was eternal. For me, the conclusion of summer is code for the arrival of another “S” word…and I think everybody will join me in a collective cringe when I say it. School.

So thank you, summer, for your not-so-everlasting liberty.