Back to School Time

It’s that time of year.

The promise of some nippy mornings just around the corner. The excitement of new beginnings. And, especially, the ritual of back to school shopping.

New clothes.  Fresh sneakers.  And paper goods.  Lots and lots of paper goods.

That was always the best for me. The paper goods.  New notebooks.  Three ring binders.  Colored tabs for all your classes….English, math, science, home economics. A package of colored paper, too.

Then there were the writing implements.  Pretty pens.  Pencils.  Yellow, number 2….a dozen or more.  We had a (manual, of course) pencil sharpener bolted on the door to the basement.  I loved it when it got all jammed up with shavings and could be emptied.  So simple and so satisfying.

Back to School shopping is a rite of passage.  Plus, everything always smells so good.  Fresh, new, fun. 

Then, a man with an AK 47 walks in and shatters my reverie….

Moving from my computer to my television, just this very minute, I learn with enormous shock and grief, that there’s yet another shooting – in our hometown of Dayton, Ohio.   In the historic district.  Right around the corner from our old beloved brownstone.

Talk about today’s reality and future shock…