Just like a shiny present

I miss having a first day of school.

I was one of those kids who was pretty excited for the first day of school. New school supplies held so much promise. Looking at the lists provided by my teachers, I would wonder what we were going to do with a compass or protractor... I would wonder why we needed colored pencils. Sometimes the teacher asked for rubber cement instead of glue. What could that mean?

In Omaha, I remember walking down to the bus stop wearing my favorite red-plaid dress with the white peter-pan collar and thin red-leather belt. I can't remember if that was the first day of 3rd or 4th grade (I think 3rd), but I do remember the smell of the air and excitement in my stomach. And, of course, I remember Mark Shannon, the smartest boy in the class who I absolutely l-o-v-e-d until he broke my heart one day in the letter-writing unit when he wrote me a brief letter that read:

Dear Jessica,
How are you? What are you doing? I suppose playing with Ashley. Anyway, I want to let you know I don't like you like you think I do. I just like you like a friend.
Sincerely,
Mark Shannon

I don't know which was worse: the content of the letter or the fact that our teacher, Mrs. Screamin' Neiman, now knew that Mark Shannon did NOT like me.

I remember high school orientation. I wore a purple button-down shirt with shoulder pads, a fantastic tapestry vest with black-satinesque back, and black shorts. I also wore a thin gold necklace. I was so cool. I definitely had planned that outfit out days in advance.

My favorite first day of school, though, is without doubt the first day of college. Well, first day, first month, it's all rolled together in my mind. Living at 629 McIntyre Hall was a wonderful year. My loft bed, mini-refrigerator (not the tiny kind, the taller one), toaster, coffee pot, and popcorn popper were all symbols of this new life that was ruled by me. Wow, what a great feeling. I watched MTV for the first time, (I will always have a soft place in my heart for the Peaches video by The Presidents of the United States of America) stayed up too late, and ate too many chocolate-covered espresso beans. I fell in love, however briefly, with Chip, the RA on all-male floor below mine. He was a junior, an English major (oh, the romanticism in that fact alone was almost enough) and his room smelled like coffee. He also wore oxford-style Dr. Martens which pushed his cool-factor through the roof. Alas, he was in love with an exchange student from Sweden, so it didn't work out. I made friends whom I loved, and still do, and became a much better person than I was.

I miss the promise of what first days of school held: you never knew exactly what was in store, but it was all new and much of the time seemed like an adventure. Now that my school days are over, I will simply have to write my own adventures.