Monday, June 14, 2010

Back to School

School books covered in brown paper; labels and stickers firmly in place. Pencils sharpened to a point- all the better for neat handwriting. Brand new Spiderman rucksacks- blue for one, red for the other.

Lunch boxes packed. Water bottles too.

The struggle to wake them up. The tantrum over not wanting to eat.

Uniforms from last year, freshly ironed. Trusty floaters to cope with the rains. Hair slicked down, nails pared.

The last minute crisis, successfully weathered.


The older one takes his brother’s hand, promises to look after him. The younger one lets himself be led on.

Back to School!
_____
A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

20 comments:

Sueann said...

Ahh! The smell of new pencils!! Gotta love it! How exciting..a fresh new year!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Jaydee Morgan said...

I think you captured this perfectly in the limited word count. Great job!!

Anonymous said...

So sweet!

Is it really back to school for your little ones? We're just about to have summer hols here soon.

Mason Canyon said...

A fresh new year with endless possibilities.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Unknown said...

Great drabble. I think it sums up most mother's first day of the school year to a tee.

CD

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

That took me down memory lane.
Excellently written,

Yvonne,

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Meanwhile here all the kids are on summer vacation!

Saumya said...

So precious!!! I went back to that first day feeling in your succinct story telling :) Well done!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

So glad we didn't have uniforms.

Southpaw said...

So sweet.

Stacy Post said...

Wonderful, Rayna! I was drawn in immediately.

Deb and Barbara said...

Just finished reminiscing about graduating -- first junior school and next year high school for my youngest. Funny to read about first days here. So sweet and moving.

Time...

Barbara

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Wow. This caught me by surprise. We just ended our school year and have just begun summer break. I guess I never thought about the seasonal differences so clearly before. Great post, Rayna! :-)

Donna B. said...

So sweet...you really captured the first day of school. Amazing you did it in exactly 100 words. I liked this post.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Nice post! It perfectly captures the first day of school! And I hope your boys have a happy & successful year.

bu melfa said...

first day of school always made me nervous....nice post sist..

bu melfa said...

first day of school always made me nervous....nice post sist..

dipali said...

So full of promise- a new school year, fresh stationery, pristine books:)
I love the photograph!

Jan Morrison said...

a wonderfully rich drabble. Thanks for the memories...

Natasha said...

@ SueAnn - one of my favourite smells too.

@ Jaydee - thank you

@ Fiona - which is one of the reasons I did this post. Just to show how different things really are, even while people are so similar.

@ Mason - lovely thought, isn't it?

@ Clarissa - thank you. Though it may change when the kids get a bit older.

@ Yvonne - thank you.

@ Diane - amazing, isn't it? Though I firmly believe we should have our holidays now, so kids don't have to go to school in the rains.

@ Saumya- thank you. I'm hoping to drabble for a couple of days now.

@ Alex - personally, I like uniforms. Takes away the pressure of deciding what to wear every morning.

@ Southpaw/ Stacey - thank you

@ Barbara- time does fly doesn't it? Right now, it seems like so far away, but I am sure in a couple of years, I will be thinking like today was a minute ago.

@ Shannon - your summer is just beginning, ours is almost over. Your rivers are flooding because of melting snow, ours are going to start flooding because of excess rain.

@ Donna - thank you. I love the 100 word challenge.

@ KarenG - thank you so much.

@ melandri - thank you. Nervous, and excited- both. Or that is how it was for me.

@ dipali - thank you. I always loved the start of the new school year.

@ Jan - thank you, and most welcome.

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