Ah, those never-ending summer days! When you’re young!
The Bible says, “It’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it!” (Eccl. 11:9a TLB)
And we did! Back in the old days…when I was young…there was no air conditioning for homes. No comfy indoor climate to entice us to be insiders.
We were outsiders. We actually got exercise by running around playing tag, kick ball, or roller skating. We circled the neighborhood subdivision on our bikes until dark, and the bugs hit our teeth or our mothers rang a bell for us to come home.
To cool ourselves, we played in the hose in the backyard and, yikes, we even drank from the hose! Going swimming in a swimming pool, a real pool, was a great treat. We made forts, either outside or inside the house. We played games like Mr. Potato Head, Pick Up Sticks, Parcheesi, Chinese Checkers, or Clue. And Saturday mornings brought fun cartoons.
We respected our parents, our teachers, and other grownups. We said things like “Yes, ma’am,” and “No, sir,” and “Please,” and “Thank you.” Being mean, stealing, or hurting someone was not part of our personalities. Well, not for most of us anyway.
On clear nights, we would lie on a blanket in the backyard, waiting for the house to cool for bedtime. We would gaze up at a bazillion stars sparkling against the black velvet sky.
But then, THAT day came. It al-w-a-y-s came. Time for you-know-what!
Back to school!
Time for new clothes. New shoes. Notebooks. Paper. Erasers. And pencils.
Each year was a new beginning. A new class. A new teacher. Even new friends.
The first day of school, to give the kids something to do, the teachers gave out the first assignment: what I did over the summer. With freshly-sharpened pencils in hand, we began to write.
School, back then, was always a challenging, yet fun, time for kids. But times have changed drastically since I was in grade school. Or high school, for that matter.
We did not have things like drugs, bullies, abduction by strangers, alcohol, and sex. In grade school! The worst anyone did was get caught chewing gum. In high school, a few drank on weekends. And one getting pregnant was a huge roll-your-eyes-and-whisper deal.
It is so much more difficult for kids today and for parents as well. So many more things to deal with. So many more things to talk to their kids about. To warn them about.
And now it’s time again. The harbinger of fall. Time for freshly-sharpened pencils, notebooks, paper, and all the other things kids need for school.
One of my favorite movie scenes from You’ve Got Mail goes like this:
Clicking away on his computer to the unknown user Shopgirl (Kathleen Kelly played by Meg Ryan) in an internet chat room, user NY152 (Joe Fox played by Tom Hanks) types:
“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”
The starting of school for another year reminds me that fall is just around the corner. I love fall. I love the vibrant reds, golds, and yellows of the leaves. The brisk, cool air.
School memories. Smell is said to be the greatest memory trigger, and the smell of freshly-sharpened pencils is a great trigger for some wonderful memories.
May your kids have wonderful, freshly-sharpened memories this year!
What memories can you share with us about school resuming for the year?
Lynn writes devotionals and inspirational stories. She has one book waiting to be published in 2015 and is working on a second one. Her greatest passion is to fulfill God’s call on her life to encourage others and glorify the Lord with her writing. She currently writes for several sites and writes bi-weekly on her site, Heading Home. http://lynnmosher.com
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