The Summer Innocence Was Lost

"Of my twenty three summers -of which I have naturally forgotten those which occurred before the age of five- only one has left a strong enough impression on me. It is a summer I both wish to forget and hold onto and the struggle to bring them to an agreeable co-existence has bothered me on nights when sleep doesn't come easily and I cannot avoid thinking about it any longer.

To explain that summer, I have to explain what the catalyst was to its beginning and to understand that, you need to understand that that summer is not even mine to claim. That summer and its happenings belong to someone else - Alex van der Woodsen."