Back to School

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 2^nd or 3^rd 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