It’s that time of year…
that bittersweet time.
You can just feel it…
There’s a nip in the air.
You can hear it…
The crickets croon.
You can smell it…
Drying leaves and withering grass.
There’s that knot in the stomach…
not sure if it’s nervous or excited.
It’s an ending…
but it is also a beginning.
Carefree days are left behind…
Structured schedules begin.
It’s brand new shoes…
and choosing just the right first day outfit.
It’s shiny new binders…
and backpacks with lots of compartments.
It’s one-subject and three-subject and five-subject
multi-colored spiral notebooks.
It’s freshly sharpened pencils…
and pens in red, and blue and black.
It’s fresh new crayons and assorted colored pencils…
and highlighters in neon shades of yellow and pink and green.
It’s the anticipation of seeing old friends
and the hope of meeting new ones.
It’s new teachers, new subjects, new classrooms…
It’s squeaky clean blackboards with fresh sticks of chalk.
It’s time to secretly pass notes
with important messages
like “Do you like me? Yes or No
Circle One”
It’s waiting with the neighbors at the bus stop
and sharing seats times three.
And then growing old enough
to be too cool for the bus.
It’s apples for teachers
and pictures with bus drivers.
It’s back to school time –
Can you feel it in the air?
And even though it’s been
quite a few years
since I sent my boys off
with ambivalent feelings of sadness and pride
and even more since it was me as that little girl
with butterflies of anticipation, fear, and excitement
I still get that feeling
this time of year.
Sweet joyful memories…
sprinkled with a dash of melancholy.
I can’t be the only one
that feels this way.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
You described it perfectly!! Love the picture as well! And yes you gotta love the paper notes that got passed 🙂
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LOL – I imagine it is text messaging now 🙂
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Yes I believe you are right, but you can’t save text messages and refold them 🙂
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Would you believe I still have a couple of notebooks filled with “special” notes from friends. So fun to look back and laugh and realize what “drama” was so important to us at the time 🙂
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Do you like me? Circle one: Yes or No. LOL! I love it!! I love your poem Jodi! Yes, there is a bit of sadness this time of year!
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LOL! the good ole memories of childhood. Such bittersweet feelings 🙂
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Yes, I totally agree with you! I miss those childhood days of being carefree and your biggest worry was who your friends are and what you are going to do on Friday night. LOL!
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Not sure I really miss them 🙂 – but I do have sweet memories of them. I’m enjoying life right now too ❤
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I was referring to the “carefree” days of childhood. I do miss not having things to worry about. I know you are enjoying life and you help us all enjoy life with you! 🙂
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Yes I know. I was just being reflective and contemplative Just trying to cherish the moments I’m given. 😘
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Yes, I agree!! 🙂 We all need to cherish the moments we are given. 🙂
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Yes I’ve been feeling that melancholy too…even though I won’t miss the heat/humidity of the past few weeks. (K)
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I’m glad you understand. It is such a funny feeling I always get this time of year. Always made me think I disliked Fall because I got this “feeling” when Fall is one of the most beautiful, glorious times of year. Yes – the oppressive heat and humidity will not be missed by me either!
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This is beautifully written Jodi! Nicey!
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Thank you Alex 🙂
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Back-to-school days still fill me with excitement! I just love new beginnings! After thirty-five happy years of teaching, I just love to visit my school and help other teachers get ready for the new school year. Love your poem filled to the brim with heartwarming memories, Jodi! ♡
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The world needs more teachers like you! Such a precious valuable commodity!
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Big hugs, Jodi! Becoming a teacher was my dream-come-true. When I was in second grade, I decided to become a teacher. Imagine my joy of seeing the world ‘through the eyes of my second graders’ for so many years! So many students still keep in touch. They will always be ‘my kids.’ We are honored to be invited to college graduations and now weddings of former first and second grade students. Several have gone on to become teachers! It’s a complete ‘circle of love.’ I am so very blessed!! ♡
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Oh the gift you gave and were given! 🙂 ❤
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You have captured the best of my school memories…….I always felt that this time of the year better reflected the notion of New Years…..fresh new starts…….you lucky girl you get to celebrate many new starts the coming 365 days…..😘😘😚😘😘😘😚
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As a teacher – you must have had an even stronger sense of connection to this time of year. Today is such a gloriously beautiful day – yet the sounds and the feeling prevails. It is not sad. It is not exceptionally happy – it is just that feeling. I am choosing to embrace it! 🙂 And oh yes – the exciting firsts that we are preparing for are almost more than my joy can bear! 🙂 ❤ Love you!!! xo
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Yes…fall approaching always stirs the sweetest sort of melancholy in my soul. You have captured it perfectly. 🙂
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Thank you kathy – and today is the most glorious weather day every – yet there is still that knot – I wish there were words for it. It is not sad and it is not happy – it is just what it is – and all I can call it is that back to school feeling 🙂
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I think fall always holds for me the tension between change being possible and change being inevitable. It is a rather pleasing pain.
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I like the way you put that 🙂
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You are not the only one, for sure. Beautiful post.
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I didn’t think so…. 🙂 Thank you Sylvia. It feels better knowing others are there too 🙂
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Gorgeous photo Jodi, and I think everyone remembers the excitement and fear of back to school! Fun!
Jenna
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I couldn’t resist buying the two for one pack of crayons at the grocery store. I always have to hold back on buying more index cards and notebooks!
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awh! Love it Beverly 🙂
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Very nice Jodi, it certainly has been quite a bit of time since my sons or I have started that first day of school. The next generation – my grandson started first grade yesterday! Happy Tuesday my friend. 🙂
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Oh Terry – how sweet about your grandson! Thinking of you so much this week dear Terry. Especially for Thursday. Sending special hugs all the way from Mars! xo
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I do! my girls have been out of school for at least 12 years and I still get that bit of melancholy. I read your poem and it is beautiful….you wonder why I wrote “read you poem” well, that is a miracle for me. I don’t read poems because I am too impatient. But….for some reason your poems hit the spot that speaks to me, I get impatient because most poems try to hard to sound poetic or they ramble. Yours always seem to make an impact, convey deep sentiments and that keeps my attention. So, when I see one of your poems, I get ready! hehe….Love the way you express yourself….in fact I was thinking of myself as a young girl going back to school. Love, love your poem. I will now have to take a cruise through your poems and read them bit by bit. I think that I have been missing out because I have read only one or two of them before because of my “poem phobia”. lol this is long…sorry. lol Oh, your photo was perfect for your poem.
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Oh Margaret – how you have MADE MY DAY with this sweet message! It means so much to know what I write has such an impact on someone – anyone – that it transported you – captured you – that you felt it. Oh thank you for this lovely gift today dear Margaret! Hugs from Mars!!
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you are welcomed…..I had to speak up, sometimes I gush over and thank goodness you know how to handle it! 🙂
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I will always gratefully accept any gushing you want to share cutie!!!! 🙂 ❤
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This was perfect for me to read today. My granddaughter starts kindergarten tomorrow. My daughter is having all the normal anxiety that a mother experiences when a child goes to elementary school. Beautifully written.
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Hello Sharon! How wonderful to hear from you and glad this had meaning for you today. I think of you always and am holding you in my heart. What an exciting, special, nervous time this is for your daughter. Oh I can so bring it back – can’t you? Your granddaughter, on the other hand, is probably so excited. I imagine there will be some tears tomorrow – Momma tears – that well in my eyes just recalling. Hugs my friend!!!
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I love this time of year! Lovely post!
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☺️
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You are not the only one that feels that way. XX
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I absolutely LOVED the first day of school when I was a child! My daughter is now in the teenage “GAWD I hate going back to school” stage. And yes, they text now instead of paper notes. They text constantly. They even text each other when sitting next to each other in a car, lol. I am not ready for summer to end, I just love summer and ours has been too short since it got a late start this year.
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oh such sweet times – no matter what they seem like – you will look back and smile 🙂 love it!
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My niece is leaving for college this week as a Freshman. I’m so excited for her! 😊 Your poem is wonderful Jodi! It brings back such sweet memories of starting school and all the “new” changes it brings. Hugs! 💕😍
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I’m so glad to know others feel the same way. I haven’t been able to get this feeling out of me for a few days 🙂
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Wooooh! what a beautiful click and very well said words!
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Thanks Snehal! 🙂
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Great photo and description of what it used to be like so many years ago. So many feelings and smells that I remember of new crayons, books, classrooms. You nailed it..:)
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sweet memories 🙂
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fascinating Jodi! how in that one photo, you caught the magic moment in time that the Seasons tell us, they are ‘changing now’……. it is something we can feel in the air and sense. How incredible to have conveyed it in your photo! awesome. (Great Post!)
plus….. dang, thats a LOT of grass To MOW!!! 🙂
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Thank you Deb! and LOL! Yep – a lot of grass to mow in that lawn. It is a spot on a ride home from the gym in the morning that I often admire.
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chuckling….. at least, its not yours to mow! gorgeous though 🙂
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Right! Hubby already “complains” about having to drive his tractor over 3 acres.
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You absolutely nailed this one! That’s exactly what it felt like as a child to go back to school, as a mom to watch my kids go back to school, and now as an empty-nester for whom this time of year shouldn’t represent any kind of change at all, and yet I still have the feeling you described! You are a very good writer, do you know that?
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Oh Ann – thank you for this comment that made my day! To know I connected with you through my words is such a wonderful feeling. I love writing, so for you to say I am very good is such a joy. THANK YOU! 🙂
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You are more than welcome!!!
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Beautiful description of human emotions. Melancholy is a very complex human emotion, but it’s hard to pen down and you did it so magnificently. It broke my heart. Please write more. 🙂
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Thank you so much for these kind words! I so greatly appreciate your kindness and encouragement!
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Mention not, milady. 🙂
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