My girlfriend Brynn worked at Olive Garden like she had since we moved to Cambridge Springs, and that saw us getting home at about the same time every day. To be honest, I always found it frustrating that I would work eight hours, and even with my tips and wages I rarely brought home more than she did in five or six hours.

But, I guess I didn’t have to wait on customers at Olive Garden, and judging by some of Brynn’s horror stories, that may be something I would have been incapable of doing with a big fake smile on my face like she did. I guess I’m just not good at faking nice.

We did take advantage of our close proximity to Erie by checking out an Erie Seawolves baseball game and spending too much time at the Millcreek Mall, but a lot of time was spent cooking out and just having fun hanging out together, watching too many episodes of Scrubs or just jamming to the iPod and recounting our days’ events and the stupid ways we spent time at work.

Now we’re back in Clarion and for the first time in four years there’s no school to dread in the fall.

It brings about new challenges and new questions to be answered. What will life be like with no school and new job responsibilities? Is this what the rest of our lives are going to be like?

So far, so good. It’s nice to work 40 hours a week and get real paychecks during times that had seen meager earnings while we were in school and often unable to work because of classes and papers and such.

Bills seem to slide off our backs a little easier with this new, improved cashflow, and for the first time since I started college, I have been able to actually put money back into a savings account, even if it is just a little at a time.

This summer sees Brynn looking for a job, as her full-time teaching gig draws to a bittersweet end, and hoping not to have to go back to waiting tables too awfully soon.

We finally have a front porch to sit on, and it has seen its usage increase as warm evenings draw us outside to bask in the rays of the warming sun and share all of our thoughts and hopes and ambitions with friends and family that stop by.

It is certainly nice to be  around these people again, and to have that support system close at hand just in case things get crazy and we need someone close to bounce our thoughts and worries off.

Thanks again, Mom, you have no idea how nice it has been to have you only nine miles away again. I owe you more than you’ll ever understand.

And a very special thank you to Rita and Frank for all of the delicious Thursday night meals you’ve cooked since we’ve been home. I really appreciate how welcome you’ve both made me feel in your house, and hope to continue this new tradition. Brynn and I love those leftovers, and our grocery bill has been drastically reduced with the help of our families’ goodwill.

I hope someday to be able to repay a fraction of this, but probably won’t be allowed to. So I guess I’ll try to “pay it forward” to future generations like the past ones have done for mine.

Summer also brings about a time of reflection for me. Maybe it’s the warm air, maybe it’s the laid back summer lifestyle where there seems to be more time to spend in my head; I don’t know. But this spring already has me looking at ways to improve my situation in life, or at least just to be happier than I am right now.

I can’t wait to break my Mustang out of the garage, drop the top, and feel the warm sun and rushing wind dry the tears that will no doubt well in my eyes as I pull away from a gas pump I can picture in my mind’s eye having a price tag of over $4 a gallon all summer. But, as my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone once taught me “Think happy thoughts.”

I just hope there isn’t some child-monster in Clarion that can read our thoughts and manipulate matter. I’d hate to warp his fragile little mind, and face the dire repercussions, but I think we’re safe for the time being.

So it’s time to get out there, take care of the gardens, clean out the cars, put away the winter clothes and hats and coats, and get in summer gear. Because before we know it, October will be blowing the brown, dead leaves out of the trees and reminding us all of what is in store for us again in the coming months.

But right now, I can’t wait for bonfires and s’mores, bathing suits and swimming pools, flip-flops and dirty feet, short sleeves and long days, fireworks and fishing.

I could go on with this list indefinitely.

You see, I really love summer, and it’s time to see again what I’ve missed in my two summers’ absence from the Clarion area.

Psychologists say we always remember things better than they actually were. I just hope I’m not disappointed by having expectations that are too high.

The author is a Clarion News staff writer.