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| Photo courtesy of morguefile |
Just a quick post to mark the "official" end of summer. The weather may stay warm for a few more weeks, but I can see fall foliage colors popping up here and there. The birds no longer sing at 4 a.m. The sunrise is changing, and sunset comes earlier.
I've even needed a light jacket on evening walks.
As long as I can remember, Labor Day has marked the return to school. Kids go back to school earlier nowadays (I believe it has something to do with snow days). Do you remember watching the Jerry Lewis telethon? I would slump in front of the television, as Jerry, exhausted and growing more disheveled in his tux as the hours slipped by and the money poured in. The closer we got to the end of the telethon, the closer I was to the dreaded start of school, which I viewed as a condemned person would view their execution at dawn.
I wasn't a popular child, though I longed to be, and tried to be. I was bullied right up until the day I graduated from high school. But every year, I hoped it would be different.
I'll never forget my sophomore year, when I got contact lenses to replace my Coke-bottle glasses. I worked all summer babysitting to earn the money for them. I got a new haircut for the first day of school. On that fateful day, I walked up to a girl in the class ahead of me, one of the popular, in-crowd girls, and said, "Hi!" She turned and said, "Oh, hi, Sandi," then turned away indifferently. I was crushed. Somehow, I thought that I looked totally different--unrecognizable--possibly even pretty--without my glasses.
No dice. Oh well oh well oh well, as Jack White once said.
Anyway, that's all water under the proverbial bridge. Here I am, more than three decades later, trying to make a new start again. The job search goes on. I am trying to sign up for a class at our local community college to sharpen my skills. I've been working on art for my proposed Etsy shop.
I hope this autumn holds some hope and fresh starts for you, too.
And if you're feeling down, just remember: At least you don't have to go back to high school in the morning.
Blessings to you--
