BACK TO SCHOOL

A sure way to know that fall is on the way, is when the children return to school, and the commute to work is slowed by the volumes of school buses on the major streets of the city or county, depending on where you live. Even though I don’t have children at home, my grandchildren are returning to school. I love walking down the supply isle at the store to smell the crayons, glue and pencils then gaze at all the new notebooks and lunch boxes. Maggie is in the 3rd grade, Angelina is in the 1st and Peter is in preschool. Their backpacks are almost as large as they are. But aren’t they so cute?

There is something so magical about returning to school that I can still remember how I felt as a child. Maybe in a new dress and armed with my new supplies, we’d walk to school, (it was safe back then), meet our new classmates, and hopefully find a new best friend or keep an old one. Then we would be assigned a desk. How I loved that! A place for just my things made me so happy.

New books that the teacher would write our names in, brightly colored cut-outs on the walls and a clean slated blackboard with the teacher’s name written in big letters greeted us, making the atmosphere our “home away from home” comfortable and friendly. Our minds were filled with the bright hope of learning and reading time that took us to faraway places. Lunchtime was fun and they had the best yeast rolls ever in MS, and we would return to our rooms with full tummies but just a little bit sleepy. Recess was a blast, jumping rope, playing kick ball or swinging on the playground or hopscotch.
I was one of the odd children that loved walking home at 3:30 taking my time on the sidewalk, chatting with friends or my sister, Dianne, enjoying the slant of the afternoon sun and the smell of my mama’s sweet potatoes frying, and her standing at the door with the proverbial apron on, wearing brown pointed glasses with fake rhinestones, and her arms folded across her ample bosom. She was a lovely, steadfast vision of what it meant to be come back home at the end of the day for this little girl, and sweet memories of going back to school.