With summer just about here, I’ve been getting the weird feeling that something’s coming to an end. And I’m not just talking about spring.

When I was younger, I would always get this same type of feeling at the end of the school year. That’s when nine months of the school year—the fleeting moments, the fragile memories and the had-to-be-there times—would rush through my head like a video clip on fast-forward.

It was a bittersweet moment—and the last school bell hadn’t even rung. Then I remembered something: summer vacation. Summer was what everyone—and I mean everyone, brutha—looks forward to. And, indeed, it did mark an ending of sorts. The end of classes (no more geometry!). The end of homework (screw you, Civics 101). The end of term papers (Who cares about Nathaniel Hawthorne?). The end of lunch—no, wait, that was cool. Hanging out in the quad, noshing on Chili Cheese Fritos from the snack bar—now that’s how to play it cool on campus.

And remember how everyone wrote, “Have a cool summer” in your yearbook at the end of the year? There was a reason for that.

But, like I said, this was a bittersweet time, too.

Sure, you don’t have to worry about writing a 10-page report on The Great Gatsby—but you’re not gonna see your friends every day like you were used to. Those times when you were hoping that cute blonde in chemistry class would notice you were alive . . . yup, those moments are gone, too. Maybe next year.

Everything awesome has summer involved. There’s summer vacation—OK we already covered this one. There was the Summer of Love—the center of the hippie revolution. There are summer blockbusters. There’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream—hey, Shakespeare’s good for you.

There are summer sports—all the fun, none of the pressure. Summer jobs were the best. Sure, you are in charge of scrubbing bird poop off of go-karts at the local putt-putt golf . . . but your saving grace was your plan to kick the job to the curb come September.

Plus, remember that girl from chemistry class? She just got hired cleaning go-karts alongside you.

No more tests. No more quizzes. Road trips. Summer camp. Going to the lake house.

But then I remembered something. Summer’s arrival isn’t about things coming to an end. Far from it. It is about beginning something new, expanding frontiers, stretching out your borders.

That’s just what CULTURE is doing. We’re starting something. We’re expanding, we’re growing.

What are you doing this summer?