I can still picture it ... laying in bed around 5 a.m. waiting for a reasonable hour to get up and get ready for the first day of school. As many of you know I am a morning person and I think I was a morning kid too (although when I was a kid I didn't eat a thing for breakfast; isn't that crazy?). During that 5 a.m. hour I would simultaneously have a stomach ache with worry about going back to school and a stomach ache with excitement about going back to school. This early morning lay-and-wait is a scenario I can place all throughout elementary, middle and high school. I have found that this particular type of jitters is an incredible one-of-a-kind feeling never to be replaced by any other kind of nervousness.
In elementary days I felt anxious enthusiasm about 'the outfit'. My mom would take me to buy one outfit (if it was a good year in our house, two) for school and I would wear it on day one as well as picture day—the rest of the time we wore a uniform. I recollect hoping that I wouldn't get it dirty (which I'm sure I usually did).
In middle school I remember it was all about faking sick. I hated everything about middle school so even on day one I was crafting my escape. How could I give myself a stomach ache during week one? Would it all seem too obvious to my parents?
In high school I was full of energy and the first days of school were for catching up with friends whom I had not seen on all summer. What would they look like, what stories would they have, how would it all have changed? I was social enough so there were the usual butterflies over seeing boys I might have liked and girls I hoped liked me.
Today I have no real 'back to school' rituals or nerves because, well, I'm not in school. But I must say I still go through the entire thing in my head and I certainly start to see the world around me under the influence of 'back to school'. This week I took my usual random photographs which I sort of think go together now that I see them here. The whole thing just sends me back down memory lane ... scribblings with new markers or pencils, special treats, new papers and notebooks, vibrant inspirations and the lazy light of getting up early. I guess in my head I'm heading 'back to school' ... I sort of wish I could feel those exhilarating nerves again one more time ... but this time I'd eat a good breakfast first!
—MAV
11 September 09
This post was originally shown with this piece by Stephanie and this diptych.
{ inspiration }, { stories, tips }, { sept 09 }