"Reading, and Writing and Arithmetic..."

As school gets under way, the summer routines are broken, and new schedules and activities take their place. The leaves may begin to hint at changing color. The temperature becomes more bearable, sometimes pleasant even, and the shadows lengthen as the sun's position changes. Fall is in the air. People in our neighborhood begin to put out Halloween decorations-some displays more elaborate than others, consisting largely of hay bales, cornstalks, scarecrows, pumpkins and chrysanthemums. More people are outside walking. The dogs are friskier, and the cats on the porch spend most of their time curled up on the glider, with its cozy Mexican blanket. It is a lovely, transitional season.

In one of my favorite movies, You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks' character tells Meg Ryan's character that there is something about Fall that makes him think of buying school supplies. He says he would like to send her a "bouquet of newly sharpened pencils".

We had our own ritual of school supply shopping when we were growing up. We piled in the Ford Club Wagon (big blue van) and drove out to Barksdale AF Base to the BX (Base Exchange), armed with our lists (which Mother tried to consolidate to one big master-list) of demanded supplies. As we loaded up our cart in the overly-crowded store, full of other families trying to get their own supplies, one of us would be calling out how many of each item was needed; 18 3-subject notebooks, 6 binders, 8 packs of notebook paper, 2 Big Crayon boxes, and 3 sets of map pencils, etc., while we scrambled to fill the order, before said items were all gone. Other families grabbed for their needs, looking back at us in horror, like we were a swarm of school supply locusts, there to consume everything in our path!

Every year, there was always at least one item on the list, that was totally unavailable - perhaps because it only existed in the imagination of the teacher that put it on her list. Mother referred to this item as the "Holy Grail" of school supplies. The quest for the "grail" would usually have to continue at another (civilian) store... probably in vain, but we would intrepidly go forth, nonetheless. Regardless of the fact that we would indeed not need this item immediately, we were slaves to the "LIST" and had to search for it, or die trying!

As we checked out and exited the BX, it would invariably be pouring down raining! We could have been in the middle of a summer-long drought, but it seemed that it never failed to "break" just in time for our trek to the car, with us laden with our paper goods. We had no air conditioning in the van, so the steamy ride home was less than enjoyable.

Once home, the goods were divided up. We each made our own "pile" of newly acquired notebooks, pencils, pens, etc. We waited to return to school the next day, eager to fill our new notebooks and our minds, with knowledge.