The end of August. Lengthening nights. Cooler temperatures. School starting. Here on Shadow Mountain it will see long time friends Adrian and Tara exiting a Dopy Don infested U.S. for Costa Rica. Mary returning to the land down under. I stay here, so far limited in movement to my lower level domain.

I remember this time with fondness. A new school year. Leaves turning. What would I learn? How would the new year be different?

Before my freshmen year at Wabash, I leafed through copies of Gentleman’s Quarterly. In addition to madras shirts and sport jackets G.Q. suggested a navy blazer and charcoal wool pants. Not clothing items I’d ever need in Alexandria. Just considering them told me I had begun to push into new territory. Exciting. Confusing. Equal parts.

Equally so was getting the list of school supplies each of us had to bring to our new grade. #2 lead pencils. Elmer’s glue. Crayons. A ruler. A protractor. Pink eraser. I loved shopping for these items. To this day I love office supply stores.

For some reason I think today’s students may not have the same feelings. Smart phones. The internet. Tik Tok. A lot of cultural noise that we didn’t have in the late fifties, early sixties.