I do love the month of August because it is my birthday month. I embrace my sun sign. I really did identify closely with it. I am loud. I am talkative. I am loyal.
I also love the month of August because, ever since I was young, it makes me think of new beginnings. I operate around the school calendar. When I was a kid it just seemed natural. Your year began in September and ended in June. July was just a beautiful free form time and August was the time to get ready to go back to school and September was like January 1st - New Year's Day.
Of course I felt this way all the way through college. Then I had my first job teaching and it still felt that way. The only lapse was when I was vice principal and principal because, unfortunately, I had to work all year long. But I could still see the teachers coming in and out to set up their classroom. I could smell the clean waxed floors. I could smell all the new books.
Then came the year, about 6 ears ago, when I didn't return to school because of health reasons. Wow. That first September was rough. I could feel the empty pang in my chest as I watched all the kids get ready for their new year- September!
It got easier to deal with the loss of my "September" as the years went on. I still tend to buy new clothes in August. I love browsing through all the notebooks, folders and organizational stuff in Staples in August. And I still hang a student calendar that starts in July on my refrigerator. I still tend to look at this month and this time as a time for new beginnings.
I guess I always will.
