Monday, August 16, 2010

School Daze

I've hit a creative low point. I know you may find this hard to believe; in fact, I can hardly believe it myself, but it's true. After thinking that I had come up with such a clever title to today's post, I discovered that I'm stuck in 2008. I guess there are worse places to be stuck and judging by my outfit today, one might think I'm stuck in 1992. Even though I'm not wearing the striped GAP t-shirt and mustard yellow denim shorts that I wore on the first day of school way back when I graced the halls of Sequoyah High School for the very first time. Let's not mention the tortoise shell glasses that rivaled the kid's from A Christmas Story that I was also wearing on that day. I was a spectacle.

Today is the first day of the fall semester. As I was sitting at my desk this morning, I realized that I have been celebrating the first day of school in some capacity or another since 1984. That's 26 years for those of you who haven't spent as much time in education as me. Deep down, I love the first day of school. I always have. I loved getting new school supplies. I spent so much time picking out the perfect new Trapper Keeper and lunch box. I carefully planned just the right outfit and got shoes to match. Perhaps I should have taken a lesson from my 11 year-old self when I got dressed this morning. Except my Hypercolor t-shirt was dirty because I wore it this weekend. Yes, I did wear a Hypercolor t-shirt on the first day of 4th grade, thankyouverymuch. Doesn't everyone remember what they wore on the first day of school each year? The outfit that I wore in Kindergarten was only worn once. I can't help it that my mama sent her 5 year-old to school in a white shirt and the lunchroom ladies served me spaghetti for lunch. It was a cute Cabbage Patch Kid shirt though. When I jumped on this train of thought about 10 minutes ago, I had no intention of spending so much time discussing wardrobe. Obviously clothing is a pivotal part of my "back to school" memories though. [We'll discuss my shallowness another day.]

All these years later, I still enjoy the first day of school. Even if I don't really enjoy the traffic that accompanies the first day of school. Or the overabundance of 18-23 year olds shopping at my Target and Publix. New notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils can only mean one thing though: fall is just around the corner. And everyone knows that fall is the most wonderful time of the year.

The beginning of the fall semester is especially near and dear to my heart this year. Why? Because this is my last semester of grad school! Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise. [Side note: If you haven't checked out Ray Lamontagne's newest CD, I recommend that you do so. If you haven't a clue why I decided to share this information at this point in my ramble, then obviously you aren't a Ray Lamontagne fan. Which makes me pity you a little bit.]

It's going to be a busy semester. I've got more work to do than I even care to think about right now. So I won't.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, I remember those back-to-school fashion shows you once modeled for....I missed it this year! Your last day of school wardrobe was very thought provoking as well. I especially remember the flourescent orange sock and "jelly" on one foot and the flourescent lime green sock and "jelly" on the other foot! Now THAT was a statement:)

Doc said...

I have some photos modeling the favorite school outfit of the year. Always a highlight. Way back when, we used to use paper grocery bags to wrap around our books, making jackets to keep them from becoming too worn. Uh, that was before there were roads, and milk was delivered by pony. ;)