Tuesday was back-to-school day here. My husband stood at our office window and watched elementary school kids beneath oversized backpacks climb the stairs to their bus like beetles taking a hill. I went shopping for new notebooks and pens.
Understand, our household doesn’t require new school supplies anymore. Especially not me. And I certainly didn’t need to drive across town to buy them. But shopping online, you can’t hold a notebook in your hands to feel its weight, nor can you inhale the smell of fresh paper or listen to the spine crackle as you open it. They may be small stationary aisle tokens, but they represent the vast possibilities of each school year.
What if we all used September as a fresh start?
If you read my July post, you know this summer didn’t go as planned for me. Like the Stones tell us, you can’t always get what you want. But perhaps I did get what I needed these past few months—challenges that compelled me to confront assumptions and find opportunities where I hadn’t seen them before. It’s been a muddle, but one bound to lead somewhere. (Stay tuned for more on that later this fall.)
My point today is that as we step into September, I hope you can see the possibilities in this new “school year,” too. May we all bury our noses deep within the pages of stories that make us think, tune our ears to teachers worth listening to, and put our pencils to work solving for X.
Happy fall, readers. It’s going to be a fantastic year.