2 weeks left of "freedom"

The countdown is on - 2 weeks until school begins. I remember counting down to summer like it was last week. I'm excited to go back to school. This used to be my favorite time of year! School supply shopping was/is like a holiday for me. Even though I'm no longer a student I try to go to Office Max and peruse the isles looking at what I would buy if I was a student. Sometimes I buy some new awesome pens or pencils. Or a new notebook. Remember when Trapper Keepers were the coolest? Or Lisa Frank folders, pens, and such? Oh those were the days! I remember the first time I was supposed to buy a Ti-81 calculator... it was like a mini-computer! And we could play games on it! (oh how those games would be mocked by today's technological advancements).

Aw yes, back to school. Even though I am no longer a student I look forward to going back and seeing the kiddos. Marveling at how much they've grown in a summer and (hopefully) matured. Meeting the new 4th graders and seeing the excitement they have to be there. (An excitement that is lost somewhere between 6th and 12th grade).

I'm sure that by the time another May comes around I will be in full summer countdown mode again, but for now I'm looking forward to the school year. Every now and then I play with the idea of going back to school to get my teaching degree. That time has come again also. Initially, that's what I majored in at college (first 2 out of 5 majors I tried). The only reason I didn't pursue it was because of the stories I heard about student teaching experiences. Looking back, that was a fairly foolish reason to not pursue it, but hindsight is 20/20.

So with these last two week of so called "freedom" (for me it is 2 weeks of not getting a steady paycheck, and a little too much time on my hands), I'm thinking of the kids who are getting new backpacks, the coolest pencil holders, awesome erasers and crazy pens and pencils. And I'm a little jealous.