one summer that changed my perspective

back in 2021 i was going through a tough time. just got out of a long relationship that honestly i thought was gonna last forever but yeah it didn’t. i felt pretty lost for a while so i figured maybe i just needed a change of scenery or something to clear my head. so i packed up my stuff and decided to spend the summer in lviv. i got this tiny apartment near the city center and started working remotely from there. no big plans, just wanted to enjoy the vibe of the city, maybe meet some new people.
one day i was wandering around rynok square and stopped to listen to this guy playing saxophone on the street. he was pretty good, and while i was standing there, i noticed this girl next to me holding a coffee. she smiled at me and said something like “he’s really good, right?” i laughed and said yeah, and we just started talking. her name was olya.  we ended up grabbing coffee together after the guy finished playing. she told me she was a journalist writing about culture and art, which i thought was pretty cool. i told her i’d done a little photography and she immediately asked if i could help her with some project she was working on. i said sure, why not.
over the next few weeks, we started hanging out a lot. she showed me all these hidden spots in the city i never would’ve found on my own. we’d sit in little cafes talking about everything, from our favorite books to the most random stuff. she had this way of looking at life that made me see things differently, like, in a good way.  
but summer doesn’t last forever, right? when it was time for me to leave, we both knew it wasn’t gonna turn into something long term. she had her life here, i had mine back home. we said goodbye without any drama, just a lot of respect and some really good memories.  
looking back, that summer taught me a lot about just being open to new experiences. not everything has to lead to some big romantic ending. sometimes it’s just about enjoying the moment and appreciating the people who come into your life, even if it’s just for a little while.