Shades of Blue: The Last Summer Before We Knew

There's something heartbreaking about looking back at a version of yourself that didn't know it was standing inside a memory. That's what this piece feels like to me. Not a carnival. Not a child. Just somebody standing inside a moment they'll spend the rest of their life trying to remember. Because when we're young, we think everything will always be there. The rides. The summers. The people. The version of ourselves that still believed every year would feel this big. We don't realize we're collecting memories. We're just living. That's the beautiful part. And the heartbreaking part. Because nobody gets warned about the last time. The last summer you ran outside without thinking about tomorrow. The last day a place felt magical. The last version of you before life quietly started teaching lessons you never asked for. And maybe that's why nostalgia hurts. Not because we miss what happened. But because we miss the person who didn't know it wouldn't last. So be honest if you had known those were the days you'd spend years missing... would you have lived them any differently?