Sunday, August 10, 2014

The most wonderful time of the year

Rest easy, folks, I'm not trying to rush the seasons here (though I did actually see a "Christmas in July" promotion just before July 1st - I'm still trying to forget that). While I do very much love the (appropriately timed, after-Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve) Christmas holidays, there is a season that runs very close to it in my affections.

Back to school time.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) to Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan), You've Got Mail

School supplies make my heart sing. Unlike Christmas, where the retail experience is fraught with the mind-numbing need to find the "perfect" gift for that cousin whose name you picked in the exchange but haven't actually seen or spoken with in three years, back to school shopping (at least for those of us with no children) is done purely for personal enjoyment.

A pack of new notebooks in your favorite colors, smooth pages crying out for creative stories, thoughtful essays or even grocery lists and a reminder to pick up rat poison.

Silky writing pens, with points that don't glop ink every time your cursive changes direction.

A fresh supply of lead for your best mechanical pencil, along with a new eraser, not so much because you need it, but simply because it is pretty.

That lunch box you've been eyeing, the one shaped like a Minion that squeaks "Bananas!" and is guaranteed to drive your coworkers...nuts.

Then there are the supplies for the college bound. The plastic shoe boxes, perfect for organizing the tool box at home. The torchiere lamp with the attached task lamp, perfect for the under-lit sewing studio. An inexpensive task chair for extra seating in the studio, too.

Everything points to fresh beginnings, the promise of new horizons.

Um, yeah...I need to do a Target run for other things this afternoon. Care to place a bet on how many "school supply" items I bring home as well?

1 comment:

Francesca Watson said...

I have the same sickness. I cannot be trusted alone in an office supply store at any time of the year.