Back To School

Getting Ready 8.5" x 11" pencil

Good luck to everyone-students, teachers, administrators, parents, and family members-as the 2007-2008 school year gets underway. It's nice to be able to wave "goodbye" as everyone goes off to school in the morning, after so many years when I was always in a rush to get on the road to school. Of course, there were quite a few years when, as a student, my mother chased me to school with threats of using the hairbrush or a switch, and telling me, "Don't dawdle!"

In "Getting Ready", I've shown the first step in getting ready for a new school year. Shopping!

We made several trips, with Mama and great-aunts, to Marlin and Waco, to look for supplies and new clothes for school. Some mothers sewed a lot for their daughters, and mine did, too. But, the exciting new things were those that were purchased in places like specialty shops or the big department stores, with their memorable fragrances and attractions.

As soon as all my school necessities were ready, I headed across the empty lot to my friend's house. We spread out all our clothes and supplies, and compared what we would use during the coming school year.

I started to school at age 4, in the same class with my friend. Most of the other students in that class were 6. I got mad and went home, vowing to never return to school. I spent the rest of that school year, looking out the window and wishing I was at school with my friends. When school started, the year that I was 5, Daddy made me go. I was still the "baby" of the class, but I could do what all the other kids were doing.

"Getting Ready" shows me coming in the back screen door of the neighbor's house, with a sack full of clothes and supplies, another package of supplies under my arm, and a box with a new pair of shoes. Ready to go to school. As the years passed, though, there were more boxes and bags of things to share.

Hope that you have had some memorable "getting ready" experiences.