Friday, September 18, 2009

OHHH, THE SAD FACES!

The swagger has gone the way of the lazy summer days, or is that daze? No longer do I hear the idle chatter of happy voices, the enthusiastic cadence of running feet! By 8:00 AM, the streets are void of music, bicycles and bouncing balls. The children are all back in school☺

As I drive to my daily roll with coffee, they gather like sparrows migrating to the south for the fall, gathering one by one as they do, but instead they wait. Soon the big yellow monster will come to collect them, and collectively, they will sing the strains of: reading, ‘ritin’ and ‘ritmetic. Playtime is over!

Somewhere out there, a game is left unfinished, a sandcastle on a beach is left to disintegrate into the vast ocean, and life is back to reality. Behind closed doors, mothers are smiling once again; plans are being made to eradicate the last reminders of summer, and maternal peace has descended upon Mamma!

As I drive, I notice the little faces, funereal in pose, looking downward, as they poke with their little feet, the ground that holds and binds them for the yellow monster. Backpacks are securely affixed to their backs, they are laddened with books and lunch and the writing implements they will need to free them someday to share in their mother’s joy!

All across this land, yellow buses traverse the highways and by-ways of America, depositing their cargos and once again, another school year has begun!

NOW EVERYONE SING ALONG!

School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days
Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, "I love you, Joe"
When we were a couple of kids

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