School Supplies

I know what you're thinking.... Oh is this one of the blog posts where Sam takes me back to her childhood and makes something that is not a big deal into a really big deal?

Yes.

I remember my favorite time of the year, as a child. It wasn't summer vacation or Christmas or my birthday. My birthday was pretty great the time my mom made me microwave popcorn for breakfast in bed, but none of it compared to the best time of the year. Every year in August, before school started, one highly anticipated day would become the highlight of my year. Shopping for school supplies.

School supplies shopping wasn't just a time to get crisp new binders and packs of notebook papers and an unnecessary amount of post-its. It was also a time to reevaluate my organization system and even my life. Of course it was necessary to pick out the supplies that had the best balance between functionality, style, and cost-efficiency. An ill-purchase would not only be a waste of money, but could also mean a lost or wrinkled homework assignment. God forbid that I begin a final draft of an essay and have to switch pens midway because the ink ran out! My academic career rode on this exciting and fateful day each year. School supplies played an integral part in one's social status as well; stylish school supplies show a side of one's personality that may not be as well conveyed in conversation or appearance. (I know. That piece of knowledge got me a lot of friends.)

I was wandering through Target the other day when I passed the "Back 2 School" section (ironically named with a catchy, grammatically incorrect tagline). For a brief minute, I wanted to charge through the aisles and grab one of everything... index cards, highlighters, white-out, markers, more markers... Then I realized -- after my official departure from the teaching world, and a fast-approaching arrival into a new career -- that I didn't want a single thing.