this week ushered in one of my favorite times of the year: the beginning of the school year. when we're still in the hot and lazy days of august, school always seems months away until we we do this:
shop for school supplies.
this has always been a huge deal in our family. more exciting than buying new clothes, getting a fresh haircut and the other things we do to get ready for school, this is the one that always brings this strange, deep, crayola-colored joy.
there's a certain ceremonial quality to the way the kids have handled their newly-purchased school supplies, historically speaking. after walking up the back stairs from the garage, plastics bags rustling in their hands, they each pick a spot on the family room floor and dump out the goods. then, they slowly open each package--a box of #2 pencils, markers, a fresh box of crayons, binders, subject dividers, notebook paper, you know the drill. next, they carefully lay the school supplies out in little rows so they can see them all together. and then, they smell 'em.
usually, the supplies stay stretched out across the floor for a day or two. as we walk in and out of the room throughout the days, we like to look at them, ready and waiting to be used, take a deep sniff, and smile.
this week, it was just me and the beej that took our annual trek to office max. (erica, lauren and tessa aren't quite as excited about school supplies as they used to be...one of the big losses in my career as a mother) and she didn't let me down. she walked through each stage of the school supply ceremony, unprompted, and did so with solemn glee.
what will i do when maddie is gone or wants to shop for her school supplies herself (will that day really come)? i will probably still make an annual trip to office max every august to freshen up my supply of pens, sharpies and paper clips--need to or not--for the rest of my life. it's just what i'll have to do.
4 comments:
Julie, you should become a teacher-then you always shop for school supplies. It's different as a teacher though; I just bought 75 report folders with brads, 5 boxes of crayons, 5 boxes of colored pencils, and two boxes of markers at Target yesterday. Even though they're not really for me, I still enjoy shopping for school supplies-something about brand new office supplies is exciting!
Jerb, I just read your post to our big girls. We all loved it...especially the smelling part. =) After I finished reading, I proudly said, "Isn't my friend a great writer?" Bree said, "She should write a book." And I told her you had...they didn't believe me at first! I told them that we need to go down into our catacombs-basement and search our bookshelves to find your tome. I think I'll give it a re-read myself. Viva la scholarly stockpile!
Serisouly the SMELL of school supplies is very high on my list for favorite smells! I love going school shopping with you..even each yr ill ask for new colored pencil but it always comes to the same answer.." No honey, we already have sooooooOOOOOOOOOOO many at home" so i always end up wrapping those up in a lil. rubber band...its kind fun though =) Don't worry mom ill always want to shop 4 school supplies with u!!!
Luv you!
♥♥♥
I hope you never forget to smell them! ILY,
Mom
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