Undergraduate / "One Unassuming Summer Day"- Pomona Supplement [6]

Prompt: Although it may appear to the contrary, we do know that people have a life beyond what they do to get into college. Tell us about an experience you've had outside of your formal classroom and extracurricular activities that was just plain fun and why.

One unbearably hot day this past August, three friends and I just couldn't cool off. Hopes of spending the day milling around downtown were quickly dashed as the mid-day July heat hit and we found ourselves half-passed out on the couch in a friend's living room, perusing family photo albums and surfing funny videos on Youtube. But soon, as the temperature quickly passed 80 degrees and with no air conditioning in the house, all we could think of doing was having a water balloon fight. But no one had balloons.

Since none of us had neither the energy nor the money to go buy water balloons, we decided to take the economical route and use our teenage imaginations to come up with a fun way to douse each other with ice-cold water. After much deliberation and about 20 minutes of rummaging through my friend's house for non-porous, non-breakable containers, we emerged victorious. We agreed that the premise of our impromptu game would be to basically soak everyone before they soaked you. So, equipped with a hose and plenty of towels, we spent the bulk of the afternoon taking turns pouring water over each other's heads and running around the block laughing, undoubtedly to the annoyances of a few neighbors.

Before I knew it, a seemingly boring day spent eating $5 pizza and chugging off-brand coke had turned into a day reminiscent of simpler times spent playing four-square as gap-toothed 8 year olds on the playground. As much we try to deny, it is hard growing up sometimes. As we grow older, most of our actions become purpose-driven and as childhood pastimes become faded memories, I fight to keep some nonsense in my life.

When we finally grew tired of splashing water all over the place, we proceeded to continue our silly escapades and played follow the leader. We each took turns of course, but with every new leader, seemed to come more embarrassing and ridiculous moves (I thoroughly enjoyed making them shimmy down the street) and not all surprisingly, louder laughs.

As the sun finally started to hide behind the mountains, the four of us stretched out to gossip and dry out on the grassy front lawn, exhausted from our unexpected adventure. Although we were still damp from the make-shift water balloon fight (sans the balloons), none of us seemed to notice as we chatted the rest of the afternoon about what we expected our final year of high school to be like and what other things we wanted to do before the end of summer. So, all in all, I spent the best day of my summer acting like a kid.

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
:)