Well, here it is, "Back To School" time again. Every year that it was time to go back to school, I would get excited, because it was time to buy school supplies.

I’ll admit it, I am an office supply freak. While others can be happy shopping for clothes or CD’s, put me in a Staples with a piece of plastic any day. From desk organizers to laminating machines, I have so much office stuff that I could run the country out of my home office. Basically, you name it – yeah, I got that.

When I was younger, my mother would take me to the local drug store, give me an empty basket, and send me on my way. The one thing that I can remember is the smell that new school supplies had, especially the erasers. That eraser smell, combined with the feel of the new blue Mead binder notebook whose cover felt like a pair of jeans, and the rubber cement that always leaked would tell me and everyone else that it was time to head back to class.

The night before the first day of class was always fun for me. I would sit on the floor of my living room and open all of the new supplies that I bought and put my new notebook together. I would take the Iris dividers and make a section for Math, English, Science, Social Studies and Spanish. Next, I would sharpen my pencils, Scotch tape my program to the inside front cover of my notebook and put it in my new backpack. I’d pick out the outfit that I would wear, set it up on my dresser and wish the night would speed along so the first day of school could begin.

The next morning, I would wake up, put on the awaiting outfit and head for breakfast. When my mother would ask me why I was so happy, I would say excitedly, "It’s the first day of school." When I would get to school, the fun would abruptly cease. I would realize that for the next year I would have to fill this brand new book with notes and essays and homework. I would have to use that brand new pink or red, white and blue eraser and by using it, the eraser would do what it always does, break in half. My perfectly sharpened pencils would be chewed on when my teachers would give me a pop quiz that I wasn’t ready for. It was at that moment that I would say, terrified, "It’s the first day of school!"