September–or more specifically, that day after Labor Day when school started–has always given me a little bit of a fresh start spark. The beginning of a new school year was so full of promise and suspense. I mean, that was exciting stuff, back in the day.

Oh, wait. You have to be a person of a certain age to remember when school started after Labor Day, when the summer break was three months long and going back to school was…well, it was a big deal.

See, we didn’t have tons of summer activities to fill up the days; we did have camp, if you were lucky enough to have parents who’d send you. We had a lot of long, hot days of playing outside with the kids who were in your immediate neighborhood. So when school started, even the most hardened-against-school kid was ready to go back and hang out with friends again.

Until we got to high school and could drive. Then nobody wanted to go back to school. But that’s another story. The story we have here is one about September and the new school year and fresh starts. And there’s a connection to writing here but you’ll have to hop over to the Muffin for “The September Feeling” if you want to know what I’ve been up to in my September new year. And then you can tell me all about what you’ve been up to!

Hey! It’ll be just like that first day back at school when everyone talked at once, catching up with each other, and life was good until Sister Mary Whatever wrote out a homework assignment that took up half the board.