This is the back-to-school section at our local Target, and this is the first time in 20 years that we won't be making an annual pilgrimage there, supply lists in hand, to buy notebooks, paper, pens, and... oooooh -- cool lunch boxes and pretty binders. I walked by this section today and couldn't help but slow down and ponder some of those past visits, especially those years when all four kids were in elementary school and buying school supplies was the highlight of the day -- and the week! When else can you get rulers for 50 cents or glue for 33 cents or notebooks for 10 cents each? I stocked up on school supplies every August, and I'm sure I still have a few full boxes of pencils (at about a penny a piece), some colored pencils, and definitely a few erasers. (My favorite eraser ever is one we bought at the Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival that says "Out damn spot!" But that's another memory, and another post.)
This summer, instead of spending a few dollars on crayons and pencil boxes, I'm spending a few thousand (or, actually, tens of thousands) on college tuition for three kids -- making reminiscences about school supply shopping at Target that much more bittersweet!
Ahh, your post made me smile. I went past the school supplies at my local store and was upset because it was the section where all the gardening supplies were just the week prior. All my kids and my two stepdaughters are out of school, two in college and we take the youngest to college this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the annual routine, going on vacation and then as soon as we got home, school shopping for clothes and supplies.
No more cheap school supplies to be bought, no more lunches to pack.
The funny thing is I still love all that stuff, I go to Office Max and find all the pretty designer folders for my office at work!
I buy the pencils for myself these days! (I must have a million by now).Aren't the kids eligible for scholarships of some kind? (I understand there are some generous ones only given out to PATs--Perfectly Adorable Twins).
ReplyDeleteThought of you last night as I drove through Rupolding on the way back from Croatia.