It’s time for back-to-school shopping

It’s back to school time.

Actually, if you’ve been shopping in the stores, it’s been back to school time for several weeks. The first displays started popping up in stores shortly after Independence Day, and in the last week, they’ve come out in force. Just remember to get those school supplies early, Halloween is just around the corner and it’s just a matter of time before the back-toschool displays get displaced.

I think back on my back-toschool days. When I was a youngster, going to school at St. Wenceslaus, mom always made sure we were welldressed. Plaid pants were all the rage back in the late 1960s, along with good shirts. There were no jeans or T-shirts allowed in schools back then… the nuns at St. Wenc. would have sent you right back home.

Times changed, and by the time I was in high school, jeans and T-shirts were no longer taboo, but they were the norm. It seemed everyone had to have at least one adidas T-shirt, regardless of whether you wore adidas shoes. If you go back to my school yearbook, you’ll see me in the golf team photo, wearing an adidas T-shirt and cut-off jean shorts… not considered acceptable golf attire in this day and age.

Then it was off to college, and back-to-school shopping took on a whole new meaning. We’d get to the book store at college, and not only did we have to buy books, but also a backpack. Backpacks were not a common among high schoolers back then - but was necessary for college students. Today, they are commonplace for all ages. I sometimes feel naked when I don’t have my backpack/camera bag over my shoulder at some event.

We also had to make sure our dorm rooms were furnished with all the essentials. Fortunately my roommate had lots of posters, but there were other “essentials” that we had to buy. Eventually, a 9-inch black and white television, an old sofa from our basement, a toaster oven, a “boom box” and collection of cassettes all became essential parts of my dorm furnishings.

Then I started my short career as a teacher. Professional attire was needed… several sport coats, dress pants and shirts and ties were purchased in the fall of 1985 when I started my first teaching job. Somehow, I needed to replace some of those clothes a couple years later when I started another teaching job… seems the clothes no longer fit, and I still don’t know why… There were a few years after I got out of teaching when I didn’t need to worry about back-to-school shopping, but then the kids started in school and it was back to the stores…. Fortunately, my wife took care of most of the shopping. Clothes were easy since the boys attended St. Wenceslaus, and in the years since I attended there, they adopted a school uniform for boys. We still had to make sure we got the right kind of shoes (even in first grade, kids were very fashion-conscious, usually thanks to those that had teenage brothers and sisters). And of course, we had to have the right backpacks, trapperkeepers, notebooks etc. As they got older, we had to shop for clothes (Zumiez and Old Navy in Burnsville Center and the Mall of America were the main beneficiary of our purchases).

Then our oldest went off to school in Illinois, and we had to make sure he and his roommates had what was needed for the apartment.

This year, for perhaps the final time, our youngest is beginning his final year of college (unless he goes to grad school, in which case, he’s on his own). Over the next few weeks, we’ll make sure he’s got what he needs. It helps that he’ll be in the same apartment for the third year in a row, so that’s all taken care of, and we’re getting by pretty easily this time. I’m not missing the stock-up trips for school supplies, and I’m pretty sure we have a cabinet in our basement that could provide notebooks, folders and pencils for a few more kids… We’ll have to do some cleaning and donating somewhere down the road.

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