went on a bad date with a finance guy who explained poker to me. he mentioned that poker was still very much a game of luck, in that you could play all your cards right and still lose big time in a round, but that you could also play your cards completely wrong and still win big time that round.

i came to philly expecting and knowing nothing, playing my cards without any thought or intent. boy did i really luck out in having won so much good. i know that the end of the summer and its goodbyes will be so unbearably bittersweet.

i worry that this summer will feel like a dream, fading into a rosy blur of so much loneliness, but also so much love.

i hope that when i leave this stage, i carry with me all that i’ve experienced and learned.

philly, you have been…