Last night I dreamed a dream, which was more of a flashback to an earlier time in my life. In the dream, I was reliving the summer of 1996 when I was age 16. In the dream, I remember falling in love for the very first time; my first kiss, my very first girlfriend. At the time, I thought I knew what love was, but looking back on it, I was clearly mistaken. In the summer of 1996, I had a summer job as kitchen staff along with a small group of my closest friends. It was the summer that I met Allegra.
All summer long, I enjoyed the sweet days of summer, enjoying the time of my life, yet at the same time, working my first job waiting tables, cleaning up the dining hall after the kids and staff, and washing dishes, lots of dishes. It was difficult and time consuming work, but I loved it.
Then after the summer, camp suddenly came to an end, and all of the campers went home. A few staff members stuck around for a few extra days, and an eerie silence and calm took over. I continued to work in the kitchen, though the work load was drastically smaller by comparison.
On the very last day before I was planning to leave, Allegra and I took a few mattresses out of one of the cabins and put them out in the middle of the athletic field. We laid down staring at the big blue sky filled with passing clouds, and talked about how our life and love would be. Other friends of ours stopped by and did the same, but by nightfall, it was just the two of us who had stayed there all day.
The next day, she was gone.
July 9, 2014
Asides
When I Was 16, A Retrospect | Camp Chateaugay, In Pictures (1991-2000) | Camp Chateaugay, In Pictures (Part 2)
Colophon
This writing notebook entry was inspired by the song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. I think back to this moment in my life every time I hear this song.
2 thoughts on “Chasing Cars”