Here we are–the end of the first week back at school for teachers. The kids come in Monday. I’ve been working and scrubbing all week, thanks to a last-minute classroom move. I still have plenty to do today, what with meetings and copies and lesson plans and all, but the excitement is in the air!

I’ve always been an office supply girl. I get far more excited over a luxurious fountain pen, a fistful of freshly-sharpened pencils, or finding the perfect journal than I ever do about shoes or clothes. The aroma and ambience of a high-quality paperie has always been more seductive than the lingerie department. That’s part of the reason I love the beginning of a new school year: a built-in reason to buy markers and construction paper! And composition books in pretty colors! And folders with horses on them!

Okay, now I’m getting silly, but you get the idea. I love the start of a new school year. The first day of school is like peering into the Plato’s Cave of education–the year still lies before you, pristine, unsullied, full of possibility. You can see it for everything it can be (at least until the people show up and start chunking spanners in the works).

Kind of like a new book idea, come to think of it.