aftersun (2025) - by laurenyip - synchronicity

I used to savor each moment through a prematurely bittersweet lens. Each biology class in grade 12, I’d hyper fixate on this moment, with these friends, knowing all too well that soon we would graduate and I would never talk to that boy I had a crush on, and we would never get the glorified high school experience back. I romanticized and nearly fictionalized high school, but most of it was just boring. This was my high school yearbook quote: “Treasure the experience. Dreams fade away after you wake up.” —Your Name (2016) But I don’t hold onto my current experiences the same way. I don’t look back on my life a year, or two years, even three years ago with nostalgia. Why was 18 year old me so attached to the past, where 22 year old me only thinks about the future? I looked at some memories recently. I’ve been realizing more and more how much better life can get. 18 year old me loved nothing better than to daydream, and when the manifestations came to fruition— nothing better than to wake

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• Keane Moraes