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The brand new sheets are on the bed. The ice cream scoop is tucked away in the drawer. The pretty brown and green towels are hanging on the rack. The broken coffeemaker is awaiting its return to the store from whence it came. Ditto the microwave oven that arrived full of breadcrumbs. We're keeping the spice jar with traces of pepper clinging to its glass walls. The most beautiful of our gifts, the ones hand crafted by friends, have been lovingly placed on spare shelves or remain to be carefully transported from my parents house when the apartment is back to being settled.

And on a similar note...

The old milk crates that serve as my study shelves have been emptied of last semester's notes, the hurriedly filled out outlines and my worn-edged oral argument folder. Inkless highlighters have been tossed, leaving only the pinks, blues and oranges whose bright lines made the cut. My books are tucked in the backpack, all but one stripped of their shrink-wrap. I still need notebooks, but that's an easy fix. Oh, and I still need to do a lot of reading. Yep. The day before classes have started: the semester is begun.

This summer will stick out in my memory for the years to come. It was the summer of my marriage, the summer I lost my uncle, the summer we lost T's grandma and the first summer in the Big City. So much dollar beer was drank. So many half-off appetizers on Wednesdays. A great deal of sweat and tears. My first legal internship and I finally got accustomed to walking naturally in heels. But, it's time to move on to the next chapter, and I'm a little excited. There's nothing like the hope and promise of a new season. Bring it on.