I took a much needed vacation day today from work. I got caught up on some errands and some stuff around the house. As I drove to get my spare bbq propane tank filled, I happened to get behind a school bus carrying elementary school kids that was making it's final drop off for the 2005-2006 school year. These kids all came off the bus with these manila envelopes in hand which I assume are their final report cards. As they stepped off the bus, each one of them did some kind of cheer, pumped their fist, did a dance, one kid even flipped the bus the middle finger as it drove off. It brought back memories of that last day of school feeling we all used to get, a feeling of liberation and enthusiasm each second to last Friday in June growing up would bring.
The last day of school always gave me mixed emotions as a kid. I did enjoy school and I was always sad when it would end because it meant not getting together with the class each day, it meant a new teacher the following year, and it meant change on the horizon. However, the immediate pleasure the last day of school brought outweighed any melancholy feelings. The start of a 10 week hiatus complete with spending all day at the baseball field, in the pool, playing manhunt in the woods, bbq's, the beach, trips, staying up late, and all the other amazing things summer always brought with it.
As I was stopped behind the flashing red lights of the school bus today, I hoped that the kids who were pumping their fists and celebrating would savor this and the many childhood summers they have ahead of them. Although I wouldn't want to be 8 years old again, there is something to be said about the innocence of summertime and the memories it brings.
Summer is here indeed, I hope everyone savors and enjoys it whether you are 8 or 80!
7 comments:
I for one am thrilled school is out. No more getting stuck behind the bus that picks up an entire allotment at one stop on my way to work. It takes 10 friggin minutes! Yippeee!
have a great weekend, charlie.
Oh the lazy hazy days of summer.Always a time for rebirth! Enjoy the start of a too short time of year.
Summertime as a kid definitely beats summertime as an adult! Although I enjoy my summers I especially like watching my kids enjoy it as I once used to. To be that carefree and the only thing you have to worry about is playing, playing, playing....thats why nothing beats joining them on the slip and slide once in a while!!!
My favorite were the last two days of classes in elementary school. Parties, half days!! Those were always fun!
I bet you were one cute little Cmac coming off of the school bus. :)
I must admit that being a teacher is nice because you experience the same feelings each June as you did when you were a child.
I think NJ ended school yesterday. There was no crossing guard in front of the HS today. I never got to take the bus. I always lived just one block within whatever the limit was for grade school, junior high, and high school. High school didn't matter because I was in London and took the tube until senior year, when I was back here and had my driver's license. It really used to piss me off that the kids I played with after school and on weekends who lived one block farther from the school than I did got to take the bus, and I had to walk--in a town completely devoid of sidewalks! used to have to walk in the corved cobblestone gutters on the side of the road, or right smack down the middle of it.
To this day, it drives me nuts visiting my parents and having to dodge all the dog walkers and people out with babies in strollers as I drive through their town.
My town has a few sidewalks, but not really in the residential areas. It must be something about this particular part of NJ being laid out in large part a good 150-200 years ago, partly as summer homes for Manhattanites looking to escape the summer heat, while the rest was farm land.
Alas, summer means little to us working stiffs, other than the view from my office window is usually hazy instead of clear skies.
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