Back to School!!! What do you remember fondly of back to school days?

Can you imagine that the summer is almost over, and it is time for school to begin again?

Mixed feelings and tons of memories arise when I read the school bus routes and lunch menus in the paper this week.

I love the cooler nights, brisk & crisp clear days, and colors of fall that will approach soon.
I hate the evenings getting dark so early, feeling like they are closing in on me.

Remember how exciting the beginning of the school year was for you? Especially when we were very young...

Before school began each year, you could go to the elementary school in my town (Davisville Elementary) and go to each room's window to find your name. You'd see the teacher's name and all of the kids in your class! I'd get so excited!

A new back to school wardrobe was also a big deal! We'd wear those sweaters and end up so sweaty by the end of the day since the temps tend to rise rather high on New England September days. It was worth it to wear our nice new outfits.

Lunch boxes??? Another huge thrill was to choose your clunky metal lunch box. I remember a Partridge Family lunch box that was just the best ever, and we lived so close to the school that we actually walked home for lunch most days. It occurs to me that my mom was pretty nice to get us lunch boxes even though we probably didn't need them nor could afford such a luxury.

Both elementary and middle schools (we called them junior highs back then) were within walking distance. That was a million times better than riding a bus to me! Of course, once my younger brother, Skee, entered his school years, I'd have to get him to focus a bit more on actually getting to school. He'd stop and pet every dog, say hi to everyone he saw, chase a few squirrels, pick up some worms.... But somehow we made it to school on time!

Recess - goodness knows that was so much fun! We got to go outside, play kickball, dodgeball, hop scotch. In general we just got to run around like crazy for a nice break from school work! How nice would our grown up work days be if we got to do the same thing?

So, I could go on and on with memories of back to school, but why don't you take a minute and think of all the nice memories you have about those days. Share them with your kids, your better half, or a good friend. Let the stories roll!

I am a Putnamaniac that has great memories of back to school days!