The Version of Myself That I Outgrew Too Early (But comes back through a simple sniff) by Hanaa Haleem
Eighth Grade me consisted of the happy girl with many sidequests, and a K-Pop addiction (which I haven’t outgrown still haha). My life wasn’t centered around academics and trying to get ahead in life. This was the last time I ever felt innocent. Begging my dad to order concert tickets during the presale, running out of the bathroom quickly enough to ensure I don’t miss the next song they are performing, and using my phone camera flash as a “lightstick”--- ohhhh those were the dayssss. Earlier that week, I was given the Bath & Body Works Perfume at a birthday party, and little did I know that each spritz after the concert would become a time machine, replaying each song, cheer, and adrenaline boost of the night whenever I smelled it again.
Annotations once felt fun and aesthetic— Cute highlighters, multiple color combinations, and marginal notes on the side—how much more fun could that be? But now there is no aesthetic in that as we are now required to annotate with multiple colors for honors English annotations, which just makes it so much more time-consuming. I also continued multiple sidequests like learning k-pop songs on the violin, collecting price tags and pinning them to my desk boards like treasures (which I still do), and attempting to learn complex topics like the history of finance, which I admit to abandoning in frustrations. Every one of these rituals: perfume, music, and studying, were all romanticized into one memory of that carefree year.
Now, whenever I smell Japanese Cherry Blossom, I am instantly transported to all aspects of eighth grade, the music, laughter, and little obsessions that made youth feel forever. It is more than just a fragrance and remains as a reminder of the last time I witnessed life with unlimited joy and wonder, a brief period of innocence that shaped my values, interests, and viewpoints today.
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