A Bouquet of Newly- Sharpened Pencils

Yesterday and today is the official end of summer to millions of kids in my area. I know only because my sister is an English high school teacher and tries nearly every year to sucker me into helping her prepare her classroom for the big day... and she is usually successful. However there is a hate/love relationship between her classroom and myself that goes pretty deep. I always go into the project with the enthusiasm of the Good Samaritan and leave with thinking "Thank you Lord I don't have to do this every day!" For example one year I spent an entire day cutting out letters to a poem that, to this day, I can't quite get out of my head...

"I read because one life
isn't enough, and in the page of a book I can be anybody;
I read because the
words that build the story become mine, to build my life;
I read not for
happy endings but for new beginnings; I'm just beginning myself, and I wouldn't
mind a map;
I read because I have friends who don't, and young though they
are, they're beginning to run out of material;
I read because every journey
begins at the library, and it's time for me to start packing;
I read because
one of these days I'm going to get out of this town, and I'm going to go
everywhere and meet everybody, and I want to be ready." ~Richard
Peck

AHHH! It still gives me nightmares. I know what you're thinking: not a big deal. But it WAS and it took ALL DAY... You would understand if you were there. Why I cut out these letters and then glued them onto a HUGE poster that took up half of her wall instead of just writing it out I don't know.It actually is a great poem because I am lover of reading myself and agree whole heartily with the message.

Once the school year has arrived I am ready for the cool weather, bring on the fall! It makes me want to watch You've Got Mail. I love that movie! Even though the movie passes through nearly all the season I always think of it as a fall movie because the beginning starts out during the fall season. One of my favorite quote is when Joe Fox writes to Kathleen Kelly near the beginning of the film:

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school
supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your
name and address.

Ahh, Love it: A bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils. Almost makes me wish I was back in school again readying myself for another year.... Well, almost!