People have so many options when it comes to their personal style…from clothes, to paint in their living room to the type of pen or pencil they prefer to use.
I know I have waxed on previously about my penchant for the perfect writing implement, but tonight, it is “pack your back pack time” and the wide range of options available to my children is amazing, as are their uniquely variant selections. Their choices are abundent; from pens and pencils to markers, highlighters and erasers in addition to the 3-ring binders, white out tape and spiral bound notebooks.
Plus. A bonus. Not a single item did I buy this summer in gleeful anticipation of the school year starting.
Of course, I do have to share a teensy little tidbit of fun or frustration depending on your perspective, that they are un-packing last year’s back pack just now. After countless begging sessions on my part for them to empty them; I guess somwhere mid-July I stopped. In the end, they didn’t actually walk out the door on their way to school with last year’s bits of pencils, crumpled up papers (graded of course) and dirty gym shorts (which my daughter gently sniffed and said, this does not smell one little bit.)
Yea. Okay…whatever. We all may think that, but in the wash they go. Now.
Yes. Unbelievable to hear…but, I resisted this year. You know, the buying spree. Year after year, and dating back to my own college days when I shopped the stationery department or art & architecture supply store frequently, but most often and most impactfully, at the start of a new year or semester.
I was due, I guess for a break.
A “don’t become a hoarder” kind of self-imposed resistance. It was not easy; however, in a summer that hit me between the eyes, all of the over-buying and random “oh, this is cute, I’ll get it” moments I have had at the store have come to good use. Finally. Redemption. A sigh that I didn’t have time this year to go; but…
All of my past sins of over-shopping – and then some – are sitting in our very own, at home supply store where my offspring can choose whatever suits their personal style for their year of learning. A $17 archival pen – in blue? Take it. That Staedler eraser and mechancial pencil? It’s yours. The Kate Spade “See you Later Alligator” notepad, use it and amuse your friends. (Okay, that last one was a gift, but still there it sits, with a few pages used and many blank ones in stock.) Please, take it…and may your year be more wonderful for it.
~ Dawn aka Hat Girl