This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 8th, 2023. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.
School is in session! My kiddo is officially in first grade!
Pause here for a meditation on the unrelenting passage of time...
All joking aside, I love back-to-school season. I'm not necessarily one of those writers that goes on and on about school supplies—smelling bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils, cracking the spines of blank notebooks—but I do love the feeling of newness in the air. Everything smells like potential.
Admittedly, September didn't mean as much to me between 2004 (college graduation) and 2008 (start of grad school), or between 2010 (finished grad school) and 2020 (my daughter started 3K). I'd see kids heading off to school with their shiny new backpacks and lunchboxes, and it would make me smile, but I didn't have any skin in the game myself, so to speak.
These days, the end of summer vacation carries more weight. It's not just the looming arrival of autumn (although when we did school drop-off on the first day at 8:15 a.m., it was already 85 degrees). Starting a new school year actually brings more changes to our lives than starting a new calendar year. (Maybe instead of new year's resolutions, we should make new school year's resolutions? But I digress.) It's as big a milestone as a birthday: she turned six, and now she's in first grade. First grade!
I'm feeling those vibes in my own life, in a big way. But, since I'm not heading back to school myself anytime soon, it's more of a nebulous, drifting, wishing I were starting something new feeling.
A new manuscript? A new freelance project? A new hobby? A new goal?
Last week, I got Instagram-marketed to by a guided journal company. I clicked their attractive ad and got directed to a quiz meant to determine which fantastical, life-changing journey I needed to go on. I completed the quiz (why not?) and ever since, have been receiving daily emails with discount offers to actually buy the guided journal in question. I haven't taken that step yet...but I'm awfully tempted.
I do feel like going on a journey. I do feel like starting fresh, like taking steps forward toward something unexpected or different or just...new.
Do you get this feeling around back-to-school time? Do you act on it? If so, how? What do you do to find autumn equilibrium after the chaos and freedom of summer vacation? Do you try something new or double-down on routine until the feeling passes?
Should I buy the guided journal??
There's a quote from The Lord of the Rings that's been bouncing around in my brain—probably because the guided journal's theme was finding fantasy/adventure in your everyday life:
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
I'm a bit ready to be swept off. I'm also a bit ready to become a homebody, with a book and a blanket and a mug of something warm and yummy on the table beside me. A hobbit, but maybe a hobbit on an adventure of sorts.
I should buy the journal, right?
~Kathryn
What I'm:
Reading: Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Cordova—the third romance novel in Disney's series of classic animated movie reimaginings. As you can probably guess, this one's based on The Little Mermaid. Ariel is a pop star wanting to get out from under her dad/manager's thumb, while Eric is the lead singer of an indie band on the rise. A fun read!
Watching: I needed some giggles this week, so we started another series of "Taskmaster," the UK show where comedians complete ridiculous challenges.
Eating: My daughter requested sandwiches from a local cafe as her last-day-of-summer-vacation lunch. Lest you think having a six-year-old is all sunshine and rainbows, here's how it went: she wanted to create a custom sandwich using one ingredient from each of the various specialty breakfast sandwiches. After we'd gotten the cashier to agree to this, my kid decided she didn't actually like eggs. So she got a regular turkey sandwich and I got bacon, egg, and cheese. Then, at the playground, she eyed my meal: "Are those scrambled eggs? I like scrambled eggs. Can I eat your sandwich?"
Loving: Sandwich difficulties aside, it was a great summer. Here's one last glimpse of my gal walking in the surf. Until next year, beach...
