Back to School Blues


Yesterday morning Linda and I were having breakfast before heading off to church when she picked up some newspaper ads. After reading a few she said, “They are starting already.”

“What?” I asked. “The back-to-school ads,” she replied.

That got me thinking some negative thoughts. Boy, when I was a kid I hated to see those ads. Now, here it is not yet the end of July and the “back-to-school” ads have started. At least when I was in school they didn’t start until after the first of August.

When I was in the first grade, back in the 1930’s, summer seemed awfully long, and I was happy to get back to school and see my school chums that I hadn’t seen all summer. That lasted about three years. Then, all of a sudden, the summers seemed to get shorter and I wasn’t all that keen on starting back to school on that “first day.”

Back then the school term ended a few days before Memorial Day and the “first day” back was the Tuesday after Labor Day. Now, summer for the kids is even shorter, but they get more time off during the school year than we used to receive. I guess it all evens out.

When I was in junior high I had a paper route that I kept for about four years. It was a morning route and during the summer I would deliver my papers, come back home and sit on our front porch to read my selected parts—usually the sports pages and the comics. Nothing much else mattered.

However, one could not help seeing the big headlines on the “BACK-TO-SCHOOL” ads and they would ruin my day. Especially while I was in high school and summers off seemed so short. I can remember a couple times ripping the ads out of the paper.

All of that has passed now but I well remember my feelings for those ads in those days. Occasionally I will hear a youngster fuss about having to go back to school and it brings a smile to my face.

Now I have turned too much more adult things. Today, as soon as I finish this column, I have to go to the dentist and probably get a tooth pulled. I believe I hate going to a dentist more than I hated the back-to-school ads. Things are relative!

Such are the people, places and things that have touched my life in my home!