Back to School Blues

Put away your whites, people, 'cuz it's Back to School time.

Yep, for all us North Americans, it's the real deal new year. Doncha think? You get all sentimental about the summer. Then you reflect: too hot, too cold, too fast. Blah blah blah. Same time next year, right? All through August you lament the end of summer and now it's here. The end, that is. But instead of looking back and waxing nostalgic, it's really a time of looking ahead. To fall. And the rest of the year. As I said it's Back to School time.

Despite all the ads and plans and warnings, it doesn't hit until Labour Day. And then, poof!- it's here. New Year's Rockin' Eve.

For the kiddies, it's a new grade, new teachers, new friends. For the rest of us, it's the memory of that back-to-school feeling. It's makes even the die-hard drop out feel new-ish: new season ( not really, but it feels like it, right?) New job/attitude (even if you've worked all summer, there's a different, fresher, more serious vibe, right?) New movies (Goodbye silly boy flicks, Mr Apatow and co notwithstanding. Hello Oscar Bait. Right?) New footwear (even if it's boiling, you're tempted to put on your boots, right?) And of course new outifts (September mags, right?)

Everything is new new new.

Labour Day (Labor Day for our American cousins) has a certain weight to it. It's far more momentous than any January 1st has the right to be. So I say Labout Day is the new New Year. Why not? New year's resolutions? Do 'em in Sept. Starting a diet? Post-summer's the perfect time to start. Quitting smoking? Hell-ooo? What better day than the one after a long, hot, smokey summer?!

So what, you may wonder, are my resolutions? Hmmmmm....To tell would be giving away too much, don't you think? 'Cuz resolutions aren't really that different from wishes and I'd hate to think that if I told they wouldn't come true.

Let's just say...well, I'm here, right?

Besides, I'm trying to keep my own resolutions at bay. My focus is on my oldest child. For this week, anyway. My almost-4-year-old starts school tomorrow. Real school. The kind that is no longer filed under optional. It's Junior Kindergarten - not just another program in his overprogrammed world. This one is It. The Biggie. The school he starts tomorrow will be, (hopefully, please god, poo poo poo) the one he graduates from in 9 years. Or 10. Whatever. It's the one that'll teach him to read. To write. And god only knows what else. For better or worse.

Yes, this Labour Day is all about Back to School. The first of many for some. And yet another slew of hopeful new beginnings for others.

Healthy. Wealthy. Wise. And working. What more could a girl ask for - for herself, her kids, her people? Aside from a few more glorious weeks of open-toe shoe that is.

Happy New Year.