Supplies & Demands

I am a junkie. I admit it.

This time of year, I find myself getting giddy as I walk through office supply stores or department stores and see school supplies! I am addicted. When I was a child, my favorite part of “back to school” was the day we went shopping for school supplies. Opening a brand new box of crayons (that had never been used!) and knowing they were all mine gave me an indescribable feeling of happiness.

I remember going to Stevens Grocery and Market (Daddy’s grocery store in Midway) in order to look through the cigar boxes he saved to give kids at back to school time. For FREE. Children now purchase plastic containers with snap-in-place lids. They’ve never had to navigate a school bus holding a stack of notebooks topped with a cigar box filled with brand new treasures that you have to be SO careful not to drop and scatter everywhere! Those boxes still reign as one of my favorite memories.

When thinking back on school supplies and my love for them, the things that pop into my mind first — a Big Chief tablet that was fresh and unused, pencils yet to be sharpened, binders and folders with the year’s cutest designs. I remember when puppies and kittens gave way to David and Shaun Cassidy! That was also about the time mechanical pencils became allowable in our grades. I think it may have been these last two items that created the addiction I have to this day.

First, the mechanical pencils made me aware there were really cool things in “supply land” that I didn’t know about; therefore, I should explore them all. David and Shaun taught me folders and designs changed EVERY year, and I could freshen up my supplies whenever the mood struck (as long as I could afford to do so!).

I know the convenience of online shopping is the way of the business world now, but if you catch me wandering around an office supply store or aisle, now you’ll know why. I just can’t help myself!

Here’s wishing all our students a fabulous school year!

Until next time,
  ~ Karen

P.S.  Always remember – thank an advertiser for making Postcards possible!