Thursday, August 10, 2006

Back to School

Kathi blogged the other day about her boys, er, young men, going back to school. Then I read about Heather reenrolling her children. And one thought occurred to me: I miss school.

Okay, I don't miss everything, but school seems to be so natural. Really – hold on. I am not talking about the 50-minute lectures and typical classes, a format used to teach people since before Rome was a super-power. I am talking about how school reminds us of the seasons.

Here me out here. I know – when I perspire between my breasts while walking to the car, I should be thinking we are in summer. Yeah, thank you very much. I know that. What I am talking about is all seasons. In Georgia, we don't have four seasons. Okay, if you are hiking in the mountains, you may see a good autumn. But for most of us "city dwellers", we don't plant crops, we live in air conditioned homes, travel to air conditioned/heated offices, and we sort of know something is amiss when it is daylight at 9:00 pm.

But with school you get seasons. You start school in the fall, with new notebooks, sharpened pencils and, er, in the twenty-first century, a new notebook computer (or at least a fresh battery). You work at school, learning things, seeing the seasons go by.

You get ready for Winter Break, another clue at a season. You study for finals, in between wondering what Santa may bring – or have debates about if Santa is real. Yeah, fourth grade I had Saint Nick's back, though I was secretly starting to doubt him. I don't doubt him anymore – all of that schooling.

In grade school, seasons are even more evident by the art projects you do. Make stove-pipe hats in February for Mr. Lincoln, right before telling Jimmy that he has the neatest notebook in the class. We are talking about grade school – desirabilities in a mate changes over time. Late Autumn is when we learned that the Pilgrims gave the Native Americans small pox and the Indians returned the favor by labeling them Indians (even though Columbus and others knew they were not near India. Actually, I think part of his compensation plan had to do with finding a shorter route to India, so in order to have backup information for his performance evaluation, he said something about seeing Indians. Again, this is the type of information you will only find here.

I really miss school, and not because I liked wearing really big sweaters when it got cold (sadly, almost January by the time you could wear them). And I liked getting new clothes every fall. A whole new wordrobe.

Oh, I miss school, and I have not little lovable children so I can't see school through their eyes. I would even suffer the tests to be able to smell the glue, have a crush, gossip to my best friend again. I am nine!

Shannon
Oh, and now a rant. Where, oh, where is Miss Shannon? She has disappeared from her web site (URL: http://blondiesandfun.blogspot.com). Don't go to the URL – the site is gone. She said she would e-mail people with her new address. Well, crap, she did not e-mail me. She could have left up the site for a day more, so I could snag her e-mail and send her a note. I want to know where she moved. But I guess, she may not want me to link to her now. Seems like she may be hiding, though she said she just needed a change.

I hope the butcher is not hot on her tail. He was creepy.

16 comments:

mal said...

I miss school too.

I miss the wind down of summer when the girls would squeeze the most out of August before going back to school, the OH would be in the classroom in getting ready for the ruffians return and I would be wondering if I really wanted to finish grad school. It made August an almost lazy time before the flurry of effort that was the fall.

mikster said...

http://oopseilostmyshoe.blogspot.com ....thats her new home

Deb said...

It's so weird to imagine school with a laptop OR a cell phone. Geez, makes me feel so old,... But I remember, SNOW DAYS! Oh that was great!!! We always looked forward to that--checked the radio to hear our school being closed and have a sleigh riding fest in the afternoon.

Yeah, Shannon totally ditched that site and I found her yesterday at the site Mikey gave you above.

We can't have a missing Shannon! And we certainly can't have our Leesa missing...

Leesa said...

mal: thanks for the nice images.

mike: thanks for the address!

~deb: I know, it would be weird with laptops and cel phones and iPod skins and all. Totally foreign to me.

Grant said...

I miss the desire to go on a shooting rampage to take out all the popular kids, but that's all.

Tony said...

I miss the lazy walks home at the end of the schoolday, talking with freinds about the days events. No adult hurries or concerns.

Cinderella said...

Leesa~ Awwwww, how cute!! I am here!! Have no fear lol.. I should have left my site up longer, I accidently deleted it on Sunday. I was gonna leave my last blog post with my new address but I didn't want certain people to get it.

I am sorry...And I still link to you!! I would never unlink you!! =)

Cinderella said...

P.S. I miss school too, there is something about the first few months of school, that whole 'new' start...the smell of crayons, and glue, ahhhh...the memories =)

Lee Ann said...

I agree, school seemed to make balance out of life somehow.
I am like you, I do not miss every aspect of it, but I do miss it.

Anonymous said...

performance appraisal. roflmao. where do you come up with these? and you should've seen Little Ms. Dredd this morning heading off for her first day of school, adorable. :) thanks, i look back fondly at my school days too. had this very same talk with my oldest the other day.

Leesa said...

grant: you mean, you no longer have the desire to take out lots of people. Hmmmmm.

tony: I loved the walk home as well.

cinderella: well, I felt left out!

lee an: balance and an organic feel!

jd: I start writing and just write. Yeah, I liked that part too.

kathi said...

I still love school, taking the occasional classes at the local college. I think you'd love it, go take a gander at what they have to offer...and look at the classes too. :)

Pittchick said...

I work at a college, so I don't have a chance to miss school. I need to not work here anymore.

David Amulet said...

Came this way via Shannon's blog. I sooo miss school, too. You can still do the back-school shopping, you know, no reason to forgo that just because you're not in school!

-- david

Leesa said...

kathi: I have thought of taking a few classes. Perhaps.

DNA: you would miss it if you left!

david: never thought of that! Isn't Shannon great!

Anonymous said...

i like all the parts, but especially that one. just clarifying. ;)