That time of year (long post)
The average temperature is rising. Female clothing is becoming less and less appropriate for public. The smell of charcoal and burning fat wafts through the air. It must be summer, or getting close to it.
It's time to start thinking about barbecues, swimming, fishing and camping. Seasoned steaks, bratwurst, potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, pop, marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers (getting hungry yet?), swimsuits, Crocs (the new flip-flops), sunscreen, aloe vera, towels (Towelie says, don't forget to bring a towel!), tackle boxes, lures, jigs, bait, hooks, poppers, swivels, 10-pound line, poles, reels, boats, motors, tents, tarps, sleeping bags, fire wood, flashlights and, of course, campsite reservations.
As the summer months draw close and I look ahead to having fun with my wife, I can't help but look back at summers past and reflect on all the moments worth reliving.
Last year Lydia was just finishing school. She had moved into a little house on E Street at the beginning of May, had gotten a job at Fred Meyer on Bakerview and was concerned about what was in store after graduation. I was working, saving up vacation time for a honeymoon, clearing some more in my apartment for another person to start living there and spending much of my free time playing video games. I remember one afternoon, in particular, when I was talking on the phone with Lydia while she was visiting her parents and I was explore a new county park trail, thinking about how much I'd like to get the .22 single-action revolver that Lydia and I just ordered (after the phone call, not while talking to Lydia). We were also both putting time and energy into planning our wedding that would be only a few months off on October 20th. Of course, that would never have happened without what happened the summer before that.
Two summers ago I had only been back in Bellingham for about half a year. Only a day or two after I'd been back the FBC College Group hosted a murder mystery dinner about Rock N. Roley, based on a game by Canada Games Company, the same company that marketed Pogs and went out of business when everyone stopped caring about them. In those months I had been sitting aside as much money from my paychecks as I could to buy a very special ring. I remember walking up to Western from Sehome Village, talking to my parents on the phone about the new jeans I'd just bought from Wal*Mart, going to meet Lydia on campus after class and thinking about which brands of rifles I'd like to get in which calibers some day. Lydia was taking some summer classes, still living on Garden Street and working at Cresswell Boggs downtown on Railroad. I talked to her father just before our friends Kris and Lawrence were married and proposed on July 28th, just after our other friends Megan and Gabe Andaluz were married, in Zuanich Point Park just after sunset. We spent the rest of that summer ordering wedding bands, reading marriage counseling books and brainstorming ideas for our ceremony.
The summer before that I was getting ready to graduate. I had failed two math classes that were required for my Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree (though I had walked in the spring commencement ceremony), so I changed my major to Bachelor of Arts in General Studies, took three upper division classes in the six-week summer session and graduated in August of 2005, though my last class ended July 27th and my lease would expire at the end of that month. I had not found a job yet, so I moved back in with my parents. I had just started going out with a girl named Lydia on December 27th of the previous year and the time apart was hard for us. It was much easier when we were both at Western, but she had gone back to live with her parents for the summer after moving out of Nash Hall. When I went back to live with my folks we would be a little closer (mine in Puyallup, hers in Kent), especially when I took a couple temp jobs at Meteor Communications near Kent, but after she went back to Western in the fall I would be motivated to find a job in Bellingham and establish myself there in order to propose.
I won't go into as much detail for preceding years, but before that I worked as a counselor at Camp Arnold (after my junior year), before that as a counselor at Fircreek Day Camp (after my sophomore year) and before that I stayed with my parents and volunteered for a week for an armed service family camp (after my freshman year).
Well, Lydia's awake now, so I'd better go entertain her.
It's time to start thinking about barbecues, swimming, fishing and camping. Seasoned steaks, bratwurst, potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, pop, marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers (getting hungry yet?), swimsuits, Crocs (the new flip-flops), sunscreen, aloe vera, towels (Towelie says, don't forget to bring a towel!), tackle boxes, lures, jigs, bait, hooks, poppers, swivels, 10-pound line, poles, reels, boats, motors, tents, tarps, sleeping bags, fire wood, flashlights and, of course, campsite reservations.
As the summer months draw close and I look ahead to having fun with my wife, I can't help but look back at summers past and reflect on all the moments worth reliving.
Last year Lydia was just finishing school. She had moved into a little house on E Street at the beginning of May, had gotten a job at Fred Meyer on Bakerview and was concerned about what was in store after graduation. I was working, saving up vacation time for a honeymoon, clearing some more in my apartment for another person to start living there and spending much of my free time playing video games. I remember one afternoon, in particular, when I was talking on the phone with Lydia while she was visiting her parents and I was explore a new county park trail, thinking about how much I'd like to get the .22 single-action revolver that Lydia and I just ordered (after the phone call, not while talking to Lydia). We were also both putting time and energy into planning our wedding that would be only a few months off on October 20th. Of course, that would never have happened without what happened the summer before that.
Two summers ago I had only been back in Bellingham for about half a year. Only a day or two after I'd been back the FBC College Group hosted a murder mystery dinner about Rock N. Roley, based on a game by Canada Games Company, the same company that marketed Pogs and went out of business when everyone stopped caring about them. In those months I had been sitting aside as much money from my paychecks as I could to buy a very special ring. I remember walking up to Western from Sehome Village, talking to my parents on the phone about the new jeans I'd just bought from Wal*Mart, going to meet Lydia on campus after class and thinking about which brands of rifles I'd like to get in which calibers some day. Lydia was taking some summer classes, still living on Garden Street and working at Cresswell Boggs downtown on Railroad. I talked to her father just before our friends Kris and Lawrence were married and proposed on July 28th, just after our other friends Megan and Gabe Andaluz were married, in Zuanich Point Park just after sunset. We spent the rest of that summer ordering wedding bands, reading marriage counseling books and brainstorming ideas for our ceremony.
The summer before that I was getting ready to graduate. I had failed two math classes that were required for my Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree (though I had walked in the spring commencement ceremony), so I changed my major to Bachelor of Arts in General Studies, took three upper division classes in the six-week summer session and graduated in August of 2005, though my last class ended July 27th and my lease would expire at the end of that month. I had not found a job yet, so I moved back in with my parents. I had just started going out with a girl named Lydia on December 27th of the previous year and the time apart was hard for us. It was much easier when we were both at Western, but she had gone back to live with her parents for the summer after moving out of Nash Hall. When I went back to live with my folks we would be a little closer (mine in Puyallup, hers in Kent), especially when I took a couple temp jobs at Meteor Communications near Kent, but after she went back to Western in the fall I would be motivated to find a job in Bellingham and establish myself there in order to propose.
I won't go into as much detail for preceding years, but before that I worked as a counselor at Camp Arnold (after my junior year), before that as a counselor at Fircreek Day Camp (after my sophomore year) and before that I stayed with my parents and volunteered for a week for an armed service family camp (after my freshman year).
Well, Lydia's awake now, so I'd better go entertain her.