Back to School... Already?!

As I was perusing the ads in the Sunday paper, I saw lots of "Back to School" specials. Are you kidding me?! It's July 11th! Wow, does time fly.

When I see the words "back to school" my stomach still clinches until I remember that I no longer have to buy school supplies. It was one of the most dreaded, and yet most anticipated times of the year for me. I love school supplies. Of course, it stands to reason since I have that paper addiction, pen addiction, marker ad..., well you get the point.

Given my attraction to all things office supply, you'd think I would have loved back to school shopping. The thing that got me down was the cost. Four kids, all needing: pencils, paper, notebooks, backpacks, lunch packs, erasers, scissors, pens, markers, crayons, boxes of Kleenex for the class, colored pencils, folders, spiral theme notebooks (some college lined, some wide lined), calculators (yes, you can buy the off-brand, but it doesn't have all the functions the $200.00 model has). As they got up in years, especially in high school the costs kept mounting. Now they all needed athletic passes, lunch accounts, yearbooks, parking spots, band uniforms, mock trial business suits, sports equipment, dance costumes... sigh.

And I haven't even mentioned the new clothes, shoes, hair accessories...

But, oh the memories. Let's face it, it was fun of the highest order. The anticipation of who would have what teacher. Which friends would be in their classroom. Who would have the same lunch period. What should they wear on the first day of school (once they got past 7th grade, they rarely wore the new outfit on the first day... why is that?!)

So for you still in the middle of the "kids in school" phase, enjoy the excitement of back to school season. For you who have yet to experience this, get ready, it's a dream and a nightmare rolled into one. And for those of you like me who are past it, just think, you'll someday have grandchildren going back to school, and you can buy them all of the frivolous, cool, outrageous stuff you couldn't afford to buy your own kids!