BACK TO SCHOOL

Tomorrow is "back to school day" for so many children including my two grand children who are getting ready for a new year. Sara will be going into third grade and Ben will be entering Kindergarten. Big yellow buses will begin to roll through the neighborhoods, and mothers will be frantic to see that their kids have everything they need for the day, and for the year. I cannot help but think back to my own mother who had to get two boys and five girls off to school every day with all the things they needed, and also, dressed in neatly pressed uniforms. Being the organized person that I am, this was always an exciting time for me. I loved going to buy new notebooks, lined papers, new pencils and pens, and to think about how I was going to use these throughout the school year. I loved a clean, crisp sheet of paper to begin, and a way to organized all of my subjects and classes. Perhaps I was a bit of a "geek" in this regard. We did not have backpacks as kids have today, and maybe our backs are better because of that. My most favorite time, in late August each year, was to go with my mother to downtown Shillatoes Department Store in Cincinnati, to purchase my new brown and white saddle shoes (see picture above) that matched our brown uniform skirts and blazers. Our shoes (with white knee-high socks) and uniforms were only sold at Shillatoes and this was a traditional trek with my mother to get everything I needed there. And after we were done, Mother and I would treat ourselves to lunch at the luncheonette in the indoor colonnade, near the Department Store. To this day, this is one of the happiest memories I have with my mother. My most cherished school years were high school at The Summit where we were taught by the enlightened Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur, a French Order, who created a very peaceful, structured and loving place for me to learn. And now as I see kids going off to school today, I wish them an enlightened, happy learning experience this year and for all the years. ahead.