Back To School

Just realized today that this is the first August since 1990 that I don't have a child who is going back to school in a couple of weeks. How I miss this. I consider Office Depot and Staples two of my favorite stores and each year when we got our supply lists for the coming year, the kids and I were the first ones in the door. No expense was spared. My children had the very best notebook paper, crayons and pencils money could buy.

After getting bored with summer somewhat we eagerly awaited the notification of who their new teacher would be and what we would have to buy. In the early years there were boxes of tissues, hand soap, crayons, safety scissors and a rest mat. Buying all this was quite a thrill for me but I could not wait to get into the real stuff....notebooks, composition books, rulers and glue sticks. Alas, it came all too quickly and I can honestly say I loved every minute of it. Did not even mention the new shoes and outfits that completed the process, plus, the greatest book bags?

In the middle and HS school years the experience, though still as much fun, the expense of it all mounted. There were many different classes that required the same amount of items for each one. Elementary school times five. Plus, this was the time of the required $129 calculator. I no longer picked out the clothing and shoes as the kids had their own tastes and in these years, there was the beginning of peer presure with apparel desires and price tags far exceeding anything my husband or I bought for ourselves. These were the times of piano, ballet, soccer, karate and all the other passions that had their own costs. We are blessed that we had the resources to be able to give our children these things and I will continue to help those who don't.

While these children were in middle and HS and we were buying all the necessary equipment in the back of our minds loomed college and the real budget buster. For the planners there were dilligent savings plans and for the blessed there were substantial schlorships. We had a little of both and it was going to be ok.

Didn't once in these years think of the extra long twin sheets, bed risers, towels, televisions and computers needed to create our babies' homes away from home. This was addition to the school supplies. College expense goes far past tuition, room and board and books.

Again, we were blessed. Our children were smart and sensitive enough to know of our sacrifices. They paid us back by graduating with honors in just four years and have gone on to become successful adults. There is something to be said about buying school supplies.