There seems to be two camps of reactions to back-to-school from moms online:
Boo! Hoo! Hoo! my baby is x-years-old and THEY GROW UP SO FAST. Followed by a baby photo or seventy.
OR
Yes! Yes! Yes! my kids are leaving me to be in school, and we finally have hours of freedom from each other. Followed by a cheering mom photo and/or kids running to school in relief.
Well, I’m going to create a third category. One which excludes very few people. Work from home? Work outside the home? Stay at home? You can be in this back-to-school club.
We are THE MOMS WHO LOVE SCHOOL SUPPLIES.*
Our national anthem would begin with the sound of the Velcro peeling on and off of Trapper Keepers in time to automatic pencil sharpeners. (Seriously, somebody get on that.)
When the school information packet arrives in the mail, a little part of me tingles. The school supplies list is in there shouting at me with joy: Spiral notebooks! Pencil cases! Index cards! GO FORTH AND CONSUME IN THY CHILDREN'S EDUCATION'S NAME.
I mark the day of shopping on my calendar as EXCUSE TO BUY THINGS I ADORE. Meanwhile the smell of a school supply aisle makes me dizzy with anticipation. The colors. The hole punching. The labeling opportunities. It’s really a week-long celebration. A holy time for people who can fall in love with the hue of a highlighter.
And I’m the mom who wants to buy two of everything not because my kid might lose his pens but because NEW PENS FOR MAMA! I actually own a double-set of colored ballpoint pens so I can color-code my weekly work calendar that I still write out by hand. Technology has yet to master the beauty of two contrasting colored pens on a crisp lined spiral notebook.
When the day finally arrives to shop and we wander from bin to bin, checking our list twice, the question is not, “What do I need tiny tab post-it notes for?” The question is, “What don’t I need them for? I mean what don’t you need them for, sweetie. I know they aren’t on your list but they might come in handy. Oh my goodness, giant cases of whiteout.”
I waited a long time to see a school supply list again and whether my new back-to-school mom group is small or I find solace among many, I will probably be too busy trying to explain AGAIN why we own fourteen new Trapper Keepers to notice.
*Dads are welcomed into the club, too, but the dad I know likes inky pens over ballpoint and that's a bit suspect.
