Back to School
Although kids seem to go back to school earlier and earlier now (and in all fairness, get out earlier in the spring too), mine have not yet gone back to school, as I write this. My college kids go back to school in mid August, and those on sports teams have to go back even sooner for practice. But some of my kids in college have gotten out for the summer as early as April, and all by May. So they get a nice long vacation, but it still seems a little strange to me to be going back to school in what feels like the middle of summer, when I am not yet ready to turn my mind to the fall. September feels like the month for that, so we just have to rev up earlier, forget the beach, and start thinking ‘fall’.
The odd phenomenon I’ve discovered is that no matter how old I get, with my own school days a distant memory, September still feels like an exciting time, and the fall means to me ‘back to school’. I can still remember the excitement of buying new notebooks, spending hours selecting ones with covers I liked, pens with ink, pencils and sharpeners and erasers, and that unmistakable smell of freshly sharpened pencils. Lunch boxes, pencil boxes, a new school bag (or back pack now) always seemed so exciting to me, and new uniforms. (As an only child, I had no hand me downs). The newness of everything seemed so exciting, the smell of paper in a new binder, everything so fresh and clean. It was a hopeful beginning every year, a promise of good things to come. And I find that that whole notion is so integrally a part of me that every year sometime in August, I find myself going through my house, replacing things that are old or damaged or broken, making sure that all is fresh and new and clean for the fall. In my house, I’m not so inspired by ‘spring cleaning’ as I am by the notion of back to school.
Like a squirrel tossing out old acorns, I found myself the other day taking my kitchen apart, and getting rid of broken bowls, chipped plates, burned wooden spoons, and pots without handles. Suddenly, I wanted everything new and clean, and I went on a mission to replace the old broken kitchen implements with new items (basting brushes, ladles, chopping boards that had been worn down. And I did the same with old towels today. And after doing so, I realized as I reached for a brand new skillet and a brand new clean spatula that what I am doing is the adult version of back to school. There are no new notebooks, clean erasers or freshly sharpened pencils in my life now—-but in spite of that, I feel as though the “year” is beginning, and I want everything fresh and clean to herald a new year. After so many years of living by the school calendar as a student, then briefly for a few years as a teacher, and finally for thirty years with nine children (and I still have one in school now), the school calendar is so ingrained in me that for me the new year begins when everyone goes back to school. And I want to see everything around me fresh and new and clean. I even picked out new fabric for my office curtains a few days ago. I can’t see the fall season in with droopy, faded old curtains. (I picked crisp red ones with blue trim!!! I liked the old white curtains with red hearts on them better, but they are so old and faded now that I cant justify keeping them any longer. And fabrics with hearts on them seem to have gone out of style).
In any case, I feel like I am preparing for the winter, getting everything ready for the long months until next summer rolls around again. In September, I make resolutions that I don’t make at New Year (to swim regularly and get more exercise), I’ve already shed the few extra pounds I gained this summer. I have an idea for a new book, and I am getting ready to ‘sharpen my pencils’, and my mind, put a new ribbon in my beloved ancient typewriter and get to work. I never write in the summer, but only when my kids go back to school. I have done that all their lives. So I guess it’s a new school year for me too.
I love the feeling of newness that hits me at this time every year. The hope of a great year to come, new ideas, new plans, and the energy to get back to work with vim and vigor after the lazy months of summer. (I never work in the summer, so I can be with my kids and pay full attention to them. I wind up doing a little editing here and there in the summer months, but no serious work. I never write a book in summer. I don’t want to miss a minute with my kids!!! Our summer vacations together are infinitely precious, and I don’t want to spoil those now rare days by working, or locking myself in my office to write a book. That is a perfect activity for the winter months. In the summer, I want to be on a beach somewhere with my children, enjoy the last few days of vacation over Labor Day, and then back to work with me…..hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go, just like one of the Seven Dwarves.
So technically, it may not be back to school for me, but it sure feels like it. Fall is already in the air, and the mind begins to turn to serious work. Not Algebra and geometry in my case, not Latin, or a new language to learn, no dorm to move into, bumping a trunk up the stairs to my room. But new books to write, new ideas to develop, research to do, I love this time of year!!! It’s ‘back to school’ for me!!!
Love, Danielle
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I agree – September does feel like the perfect months to start something new. Most people choose January, the beginning of a new year, but there’s something about September, when the first chill sets in and the days become shorter, and you reach into your closet for that sweater that keeps you warm. The flowers of September are different: bold, rich and festive, as if the nature gives a party to celebrate the end of the busy and crazy summer. Your dinner menu changes as well and you opt for thick, flavorful, heavier stuff that warm up your family…
Hello Danielle:
I am reading “His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina”. I’m so sorry about all the things that happened to you and to your family.
I have bipolar disorder. Sometimes, it is very complicated to deal with the disease. My dad was bipolar, too. He killed himself, one month ago.
I started the treatment (medication and therapy) two years ago. Now, I’m twenty five years old. Sometimes, I think: “It’s better to give up”. But, knowing similar stories conforts my soul.
My congratulations for your help!
Alessandra, Brazil
Danielle,
Can’t wait to see what this fall has in store for us as your readers. You always come up with the most interesting story lines and characters. I am waiting patiently. Love to you and Happy Fall!
I admire your motivation… I need to do some closet-cleaning myself… I think I’ll wait til winter when it’s cooler here in Southern California… I know it’s alread cool for you in Northern California… Enjoy the newness!
Dear Danielle,
this is not really a comment to your last blog, but I want to say a few words to you.
Thank you so much for yuor books. Once my mom gave me one yuor books (it was “The long road home”, while reading it I cried several times and wanted to kill that woman Eloise) and since then I started reading, exchanging your books with my mom. I’ve head about 20 of them and continue reading (recently I’ve finished reading “A perfect stranger” and now am reading “Passion’s promise”. I really enjoy every book, I find something useful for me in every story you write,it helps me to better understand the relationship between parents & children, man & woman and the relationship in my family, and to think about the right way to build my own family, to avoid mistakes in life in future.
I am 25, my husband is 26, and we are going to have children. I am an only child but I want to have a big family as you have and some day to say to my children “Your sisters (or/and brothers)are the most important people in your life, remember and appreciate that”. It is one of the things that I remembered from your book “Sisters”. Perhaps I am using not very suitable words in English to describe my feelings correctly, I’m sorry for that.
I am so sorry for your son Nick. Now I can understand the sorrow and pain people feel when losing a family member or a dear person, as my father died 2 years ago and every night before falling asleep I think about him and ask God to bring peace to his soul. I hope Nick is now in peace too.
Dear Danielle, you make my life better. Many thanks to you. I wich you and yuor family health and hapiness, success and prosperity.
And a plenty of new ideas of new books!
Anna,
your true fan from Russia.
Dear Danielle,
this is not really a comment to your last blog, but I want to say a few words to you.
Thank you so much for your books. Once my mom gave me one of yuor books (it was “The long road home”, while reading it I cried several times and wanted to kill that woman Eloise) and since then I started reading, exchanging your books with my mom. I’ve read about 20 of them and continue reading (recently I’ve finished reading “A perfect stranger” and now am reading “Passion’s promise”. I really enjoy every book, I find something useful for me in every story you write,it helps me to better understand the relationship between parents & children, man & woman and the relationship in my family, and to think about the right way to build my own family, to avoid mistakes in life in future.
I am 25, my husband is 26, and we are going to have children. I am an only child but I want to have a big family as you have and some day to say to my children “Your sisters (or/and brothers)are the most important people in your life, remember and appreciate that”. It is one of the things that I remembered from your book “Sisters”. Perhaps I am using not very suitable words in English to describe my feelings correctly, I’m sorry for that.
I am so sorry for your son Nick. Now I can understand the sorrow and pain people feel when losing a family member or a dear person, as my father died 2 years ago and every night before falling asleep I think about him and ask God to bring peace to his soul. I hope Nick is now in peace too.
Dear Danielle, you make my life better. Many thanks to you. I wish you and your family health and hapiness, success and prosperity.
And a plenty of new ideas of new books!
Anna,
your true fan from Russia.
Hi Danielle ~ Happy fall!
Boy, did you bring back the memories for me!
When I was little, I absolutely hated fall because it meant the end of my favorite season of the year, which has always been summer. I was a nervous wreck every fall because it meant that school was about to start again for the year, and I hated school. I longed for the long, hot, lazy days of summer. A time when I could put all of my troubles away for 3 months and just relax and ride my horse, play with my friends, swim, and stay up much later than my bedtime during the school year. But in the fall, my mom would make my brother and I go to bed early, my dad closed up the pool for the winter, and it also meant having to do my homework and seeing my friends less. Yuck! Once I grew up and got married and had my daughter, I thought that I was finally over the sadness that fall brought on, until my daughter became of age that she, too, would have to go to school. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my daughter loved school and couldn’t wait for it to start! Her wonderful attitude helped me to begin to enjoy everything that I had been missing over the years, such as the beautiful change in color of the leaves on the trees (we live near mountains in PA) and trips to the local pumpkin fields to pick out our pumpkins for halloween. That’s when it occured to me that I never took the time to see the upside of autumn’s beauty. Now that my daughter is grown and married, I still get that 2 second twinge of sadness when summer is over, but thankfully, it doesn’t last that long. I have come to the realization that if it weren’t for fall and winter, I would not appreciate spring and summer as much as I do.
Tnx for that information. It is very much appreciated! Cheers.
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I admire your motivation. I know it’s already cool for you in Northern California… Enjoy the newness!