Happy New Year!!

I've got the itch. It happens every year about this time. I've lived on an academic calendar for most of my life, so I'm sure it's inevitable. When the mornings start to be cool and store aisles bloom with "Back to School", I've got to have it ----- School Supplies!

A brand new box of 64 crayons, soldier straight, points perfect, an array of alluring colors.

Elmers Glue with a clean, smooth twisting orange cap, no drips down the side, just a full, heavy bottle of snow white goo.

Yellow, #2 pencils with flexible erasers that will rub out mistakes without leaving a mark.

Colored pencils, sharpened to perfection, ready to draw pictures, maps, graphs and charts.

A brand new ruler, no nicks to leave a dent in the line, no old ink marks that measure out forgotten projects.

Notebook paper, yes, the old-fashioned, three hole punch paper ready to find its place in a clean three ring binder, preferably with pockets front and back. 

Those are the essentials. Add in some multi-colored pens and highlighters, a protractor, markers and sharpies in varying colors, a jar of rubber cement with the little brush and strong smell, sharp pointed scissors, and a rainbow of paperclips, and life is good.

Setting up the classroom was one of my favorite parts of teaching. All summer long, I made random notes in a journal as ideas occurred to me --- teaching units, new book titles, art projects. I haunted the teacher store for ideas and some purchases, hit the yard sales for containers and interesting miniatures. I begged, borrowed and bartered for materials from friends and colleagues, storing them all away on shelves and in cupboards, certain that I would find just the right reason to use them.

This time of year breathes anticipation. What will the new year bring? Much more than January 1, the start of a new school year brings excitement and expectation, anxiety and new confidence. This year will be different ----- new ----- the best one yet!

I'm not returning to school this fall, though I confess that I've perused the job openings more than once. I don't really want to go back to the reality of teaching, not as I experienced it before and not as I hear it is today. I like what I do now, taking care of the family and the house, writing, reading, thinking, growing. These are all the things that were compromised when I was deep in the whirlwind of work. There was no time for anything I wanted to do ---- and not enough time for the things I had to do. 

Perhaps that's why this is the best time --- the breath before diving in. Even as a kid, starting a new grade, I appreciated this pause when everything seemed possible and nothing was certain. New clothes, new pencils, and the promise that by the end of the year I would be a new me, in many crucial ways. That is what the end of summer still portends for me.

All that and an August birthday, too. Good choice, Mom.