My summer bucket list did not come from daydreams. My summer bucket list came from vengeance.

Flash back with me to the end of last semester. Remember school? Remember finals?

Those last few weeks are brutal. My alarm would scream at 5 in the morning. There was coffee to drink and facts to cram before 8 a.m. exams. The bed was warm and morale was low. It was in these moments between slapping snooze and managing slow burning rage that my summer bucket list was born.

I’d rip my bed sheets off, head out the door in the same groutfit I had on the day before (and maybe even the day before that), and quietly curse to myself how I was going to spend my summer in a spiteful hibernation. Sleep justice would be served, vengeance would be had.

Summer Goal #1 – Spend a WHOLE DAY in bed

I save a Starbucks fund for finals week. You can’t buy miracles, but you can buy lattes. If I stayed on schedule I’d hobble in, order, get situated, start ripping through flashcards and be fairly caffeinated by 6 a.m. In my state of controlled panic, I usually kept my nose in my notes. But every once in a while I’d glance up only to notice a fellow coffee lover reading a book for what looked like ­– casual pleasure!

Oh, the resentment.

And it was in these moments that I swore to myself I would grab a book, march to Starbucks, and read for nothing more than joy as soon as summer rolled around.

Summer Goal #2 – Read for PLEASURE at a coffee shop

By 7:30 I was usually packed up and trekking across campus to my morning final. I usually love walking to class, but by the end of the year the same paths get stale. Maybe these thoughts were the byproduct of exhaustion, but I started feeling bad for my tennis shoes. They’d been so dependable all year, and how had I rewarded them? The treadmill once in a while? Those babies were meant to go on adventures like in shoe commercials where people are doing parkour in their new, cool sneakers. I owed my shoes and myself some scenic views.

And it was in these moments that I promised my footwear good, long, soul cleansing nature hikes as soon as summer rolled around.

Summer Goal #3 – Take shoes on NATURE HIKES

These are a few of my plots for revenge. Watching a series of sunsets, stargazing, road trips, pool days, lake days, musical festivals, nights at the drive-in, and county fair Ferris wheel rides were also on the list of accomplices.

Summer has indeed rolled around, but then I blinked and it was August. The beginning of the end. Every year I have these grand plans for summer, and every year summer flies by faster and faster.

Where does the time go? Internships, jobs, summer classes, family commitments, etc., etc. All wonderful ways to spend the summer, but you don’t have to forsake the bucket list. If you had goals or adventures dreamt for the summer don’t roll over yet. I still owe my former self a WHOLE DAY in bed and–make no mistake–I intend to bury that hatchet.

What a wonderful world we would live in if all revenge was sought stargazing on summer nights.