Kids all over the country are preparing to go back to school. Many of my co-workers are
on vacation this week, spending the last week of summer with their kids. The parking lot at the elementary school in
my neighborhood has been filled all week.
I suspect the teachers are already back to school preparing for the
student’s return. And last night I saw
lots of parents and little ones in and out of the building, it looked like it
might have been an orientation night for the first graders.
My son Kyle is back at Tulane, a sophomore, although he
only had one day of classes before Isaac hit New Orleans. He’s now on “hurrication” until Tuesday of
next week. Our neighbors took their daughter to college in Wisconsin today. Their oldest son has graduated from college and is out of the house, but Mom is still a little nervous. This is their daughter, and the last child to leave the house. Daughter of course could hardly wait to leave!
I remember when I was a little girl; the anticipation of a
new school year was so exciting! Seeing friends
again after being apart during the summer; new school clothes; would I like my
teacher?
When I was in
elementary school we lived in a small town.
The elementary school was a three story brick building (where my parents
had attended high school) and each grade had two teachers. At the end of the summer the local newspaper
would publish the student classroom assignments. My mom would take me to the local dime store as
soon as the paper was available to learn who my teacher would be the coming school
year. Every year all I wanted was to be
in the same class as my best friend Lori.
And except for our kindergarten year, I was disappointed every year. Our grandmothers were best friends, and our
mothers were – and still are - best friends.
It never occurred to me back then that maybe in this small town somebody
knew the strong connections between our families and intentionally made sure
that Laurie and Lori who spent so much time together outside of the classroom
probably shouldn’t have the same teacher!
Shopping for new school
clothes was an annual tradition. New
pants, new shirts, new school shoes, new sneakers for gym class, new shoes for
Sunday School, a new winter coat for play and a new dress winter coat were
standard. Thinking back on it, my
parents must have budgeted carefully for this, as my mother didn’t work when my
sister, brother and I were young. I
also got a new dress for Christmas each year, and one for Easter, and
those were usually sewn by my grandmother, but I have no other memory of shopping
for new clothes except at the beginning of the school year. There were no malls back then, no Target, Wal-Mart,
Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle or Aeropostale. It was JCPenney or Sears, in Woodbury, New
Jersey, and later at Prices Corner, in Wilmington, Delaware.
I didn’t carry a back
pack when I was in school, but my lunch box was very important. In kindergarten, when Lori and I were in the
same classroom, our moms went shopping for our first lunchboxes together. Lori’s mom, my dear Aunt Anita, selected a
black vinyl box for Lori, with Barbie motif.
It was beautiful. For me, my mom chose a colorful tin box with
Charlie Brown and Snoopy and friends. I
liked my first lunch box, but oh, how I coveted Lori’s lunch box! By first grade, my Mom redeemed herself - I
was rockin’ a Brady Bunch lunchbox!
Even today I can
remember what would be packed in that lunch box. My ham and cheese with mayo on white bread
would be wrapped in tin foil. Herr’s
potato chips in a baggie tied with a twisty (no ziplock tops back then) and either
chocolate frosted or peanut butter Tastycakes.
The thermos, which was held in place by a metal arm, was meant to keep
its liquid contents cold but the milk never stayed quite cold enough. Sometimes, though, the thermos would have
Hi-C grape juice, my all-time favorite drink.
Beginning in
kindergarten and throughout elementary school I walked to school. Moms didn’t load up the kids and drive them
to school back then – most of us were a one car family, and dad took the car to
work. We walked when it was very hot in
the beginning and the end of the school year, when it rained, and when it was
cold and snowy. My mom’s other dear
friend, my Aunt Connie (I have lots of Aunts!) lived “down the hill by the lake”
and had her own car. Once in a while she
would drive kids to school when the weather was bad, and I remember catching a
ride with her. More often than not,
though, my friends and I laced up our boots, zipped up our hoods, lifted our
umbrellas, and away we went.
School shopping for
Emily when she was little was different.
She attended Catholic school so there was no shopping for clothes, just
a trip to the uniform store. She never
carried a lunch box, but selecting a back pack was a big deal. When she started school she favored the
Disney princesses, and around the 2nd or 3rd grade
graduated to the LL Bean canvas back pack monogrammed with her initials. I drove her to school every morning, inching
my way through the car pool drop off line.
Fortunately, she did have the experience of walking home from school
throughout her elementary school years, and she walked to and from school throughout
middle school. In high school, riding a school bus was so uncool that she
convinced me to drive her to school every morning, and she would find a ride
home, or walk. If you’ve had a teenage
daughter you know how moody and temperamental they can be. One smart comment too many and she lost her
morning ride to school and had to begin taking the bus! Best punishment I ever came up with! It wasn’t long after that she got her driver’s
license, and then her own car, and she was able to drive herself to and from
school,
One week from today
Emily is moving to Manchester, England, for graduate studies. So last night we did some school
shopping. Here’s what we bought: 2 bags of Snyder’s pretzels; 3 cans of
Delmonte green beans; 2 jars of Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing; 3 boxes of
Kraft macaroni and cheese; 1 box of instant mashed potatoes (I forget the
brand); 1 box of Kellogg’s cereal bars; 1 box each of Zatarain’s jambalaya mix,
red beans and rice mix, and black beans and rice mix. From her study abroad experience, these are
food items that she knows she can’t buy in England, and that she must have. She felt this would be enough to get her
started, and wants me to send her care packages of food every month or so to
keep her kitchen stocked. Those of you
who know me know I will do this.
School shopping with my
mom to Catholic school girl uniforms; Brady Bunch tin lunch boxes to Disney
princess backpacks; walking to school to car pool lines; ham and cheese
sandwiches to mailing care packages abroad.
What I wouldn’t give to
turn back the clock, just a little bit, even for a little while.
Just sayin.’
Laurie