Pants

It’s summer!

At least, it’s supposed to be.

For the last quarter of my life, summer meant working at a water park. Summer meant suffocating heat and eyebrow-raising tan lines. It meant throwing on a red tank top and watching kids splash around a pool.

It meant beer.

And good food.

This summer – if you choose to call it that – has been different.

This summer, I’m spending 40 hours a week in an office.

An office.

This summer, I’m not rolling out of bed, into my car, and over to my work station in one disoriented motion.

This summer, I’m wearing pants.

My new job is hella fun, but I miss those splashing kids.

I’m grown-up now. Or, at least, I spend all day pretending to be. I put on my pants and a shirt that’s too hot and I somersault from meeting to meeting.

I really am thankful for the chance to do some communications work for such an enormous company, but every time I sit in my grey cubicle and stare at my Microsoft Outlook inbox, I realize those splashing kids are gone.

Well, they’re not gone.

I am.

I’m not going to be a lifeguard again. I’m not going to teach another swimming class. I’m not going to play Duck Duck Goose or London Bridge while crouching in two feet of water. I’m not going to blow bubbles and pretend to talk to sharks.

I’m going to be a real live actual totally-not-made-up adult. With, like, a beard and everything.

What.

9 months of school. Then I’m done. Then it’s just beards and meetings and Microsoft Outlook.

It’s weird, but it’s also exciting.

I may not get to suffocate in the heat or raise any eyebrows with my tan lines this summer, but I can do so much more.

Exempli gratia: I made a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.

It was very adult.

My mom helped.

Here’s the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich that I made:

Impressions: The cheese sauce was too thin. The bun was soft, but boring, and only dulled the spiciness of the steak. In the end, I think I made a decent sammy. My mom did alright.

What made it: The onions. The caramelized mix of spanish and white onions was sweet, crunchy, and gentle all at once. The onion drippings flowed through the sandwich, covering the steak and peppers in sweet, earthy love.