Confessions of a School Supply Nerd

I must admit, I am a back-to-school nerd.

The new paper, pencils, folders, and crayons all get my inner child happy and giddy.  I vividly remember when the 64 box of Crayola Crayons was a big step in the school supply shopping list, I believe I was in 7th grade when I finally graduated from the little box.

When I was a kid, it was Prang Water Colors, Big Chief Writing Tablets (wrote some of my earliest stories on these), Crayola Crayons, Crayola Color Pencils (for 7th grade!) Bic Pens (for 6th grade, we were big kids then!).  I remember the Cursive Writing Paper required for 3rd grade (some things should still be in the curriculum, like handwriting class!).  I remember picking out our lunch boxes (The Mystery Machine, Scooby Doo for me!) back when they were metal and had the thermos to match (I wish I still had mine!)

I am on my last set of children who have gone through the ritual of choosing their "special folder" and deciding what color binder they should have (they are 3rd and 5th grade, respectively).  I am in the counting down stage of when Target in July and the Mall in August will be my second homes.
My youngest son also got into the back-to-school shopping mode but with a different list.

He is now safely tucked away in his dorm, 5 states and a 12-hour travel day away.

His list included things like Tide Pods and enough Axe deordant to last until Christmas break.  He had to bring his Tux and cufflinks for the Orientation Week Freshman Ball and reluctantly didn't bring all twenty pairs of athletic shoes, deciding that only five would fit into the already overstuffed van.  He had to make the same decisions for his t-shirt collection and shorts, we ended up bring some things back with us.

I think I will always walk the school supply aisle at Target when July rolls around.  I know my son had enough paper and notebooks to last him to his Bachelors of Arts (hey, I went a little overboard back when he was a freshman in high school and filled up his supply drawers to capacity!)

This school-supply-nerd loves the change to late July when all those shiny new pencils and markers take up a huge portion of Target.  I love to look at the kids negotiating with their parents why the $6 safe-like pencil box is a MUST HAVE versus the 98-cents plastic box that is stacked on an endcap.

Glue sticks, packs of 24 pencils, crayons for 25-cents, composition notebooks for 50-cents, filler paper for 25-cents, this teacher-in-heart wants to grab them all!

It is not quite like a shopping addiction, but I do admit to standing there with my daughters, knowing my home cabinet probably already has some, and grabbing a few more of those really cute  composition notebooks. Hey, what can I say, back in my day, the only choice was black and the only rule was WIDE!

I think it is the promise of adventure unfolding, like those new notebooks my daughters are filling with paper, that makes me love the new supplies.  Life, like learning, keeps happening and like July to August, always comes around with the promise that while some things will stay the same, some amazing new happenings are waiting to be explored.

Happy Back-To-School Week!