No Sentiment There

I surely am sentimental. There are more than enough times when I think of my kids growing up, and become wistful. Then there are the times I walk into Wal-Mart in August and the sentiment ebbs, a least momentarily.

Last week I found myself heading into a Wal-Mart for a few things, to be inundated with back to school sales the instant I was in the door. Rows and rows of notebooks, pencils, lunchboxes, backpacks, crayons, erasers, and countless other ephemera which the school people deem of critical importance to education stared towards me.

They beckoned pointlessly, no siren calling this old boy. Those August days I do not miss one iota. I have absolutely no sentimentality for back to school sales. The thought of dashing off to battle the other parents at Meijer because college ruled notebooks are available for ten cents each, but only until Midnight, holds no pining for the old days from yours truly. 

I shook my head sadly, and with true compassion, at the young mothers and fathers dealing with it that day. I grabbed the few things I needed right quick and nearly danced through the checkout line, happily leaving backpack choices to picky 8 year olds and exasperated parents. Maybe I ought to feel more sorry for them. I could tell by the occasional glance that I was envied. I didn't mind one bit.

No more pencils, no more books

It's August, and that means one thing for parents of school age children: it's time to buy school supplies.

The ads are everywhere, for clothes and backpacks and pencils and notebooks and all those items on all those lists helpfully supplied by our teachers. If you've got one schoolchild it can be a daunting task. If you've got several it can seem too high of a mountain.

I'm past all that and I don't mind at all. Rushing from store to store to get the best prices on different items was simply a chore, especially factoring in all the other parents doing the same thing. It wasn't long before the school supply aisles at Office Depot and K-Mart looked like bombed out cities from the Second World War.

Then there was always that one item which, somehow, became impossible to find. Erasers; I remember one year when we could not find an eraser anywhere. Well, yes, on pencils, but you know how quickly those wear down. You needed actual hand held erasers. Yet there were none, as though the erasers themselves had gathered en masse and decided, nope, we're not having anything to do with this madness this year. You're on you're own; bye!

I don't miss it at all. I pity the folks still dealing with it. I have absolutely no sentimentality for the school day preparation of my children. We ran the race, we fought the fight. And I like the feeling of switching channels the instant a back to school sale commercial appears. It is empowering in ways beside which fighting the crowds at Target pale.

No more school supply battles

It's August, and that means one thing for parents of school age children: it's time to buy school supplies.

The ads are everywhere, for clothes and backpacks and pencils and notebooks and all those items on all those lists helpfully supplied by our teachers. If you've got one schoolchild it can be a daunting task. If you've got several it can seem too high of a mountain.

I'm past all that and I don't mind at all. Rushing from store to store to get the best prices on different items was simply a chore, especially factoring in all the other parents doing the same thing. It wasn't long before the school supply aisles at Office Depot and K-Mart looked like bombed out cities from the Second World War.

Then there was always that one item which, somehow, became impossible to find. Erasers; I remember one year when we could not find an eraser anywhere. Well, yes, on pencils, but you know how quickly those wear down. You needed actual hand held erasers. Yet there were none, as though the erasers themselves had gathered en masse and decided, nope, we're not having anything to do with this madness this year. You're on you're own; bye!

I don't miss it at all. I pity the folks still dealing with it. I have absolutely no sentimentality for the school day preparation of my children. We ran the race, we fought the fight. And I like the feeling of switching channels the instant a back to school sale commercial appears. It is empowering in ways beside which fighting the crowds at Target pale.