The opening of school is up in the air where I live. There is an ongoing contract impasse and the teachers have authorized a strike. They have worked under their old contract for two extra years. I only remember one other strike. I was not involved as a teacher, but of course my children were. It is hard to fault anyone, but the impasse is unfortunate to say the least. Depending if it happens and for how long, the educational process will be interrupted and tempers are sure to flare.

I feel sorry for those entering their senior year with such uncertainty. I also feel sorry for those excited kindergarten students who may have to wait just a little longer to go to school. The last years before my retirement I taught kindergarten so I relate to that excitement probably better than most. The children were eager to be part of the school system.

I remember my own grandchildren as they prepared for the school experience. The first to enter the system just graduated. My, but 2016 seemed so far away at that point! The second grandchild felt cheated that he lost time at grandma’s house. He was enrolled in a full day kindergarten program. By the time the third grandchild rolled around kindergarten in Warren County was also a full day program so time at Grandma’s was limited to after school.

Getting ready for school is an important time. This year we had one of our own take off early for admittance to her first year of college. I am sure she packed up a great deal of the stuff in her room to take with her. This is a time of transition for all of us. I always saw a great deal of her since she often came to my house after school – just to visit. To say that I will miss her is an understatement. At least I can keep in contact via social media.

I have told her brother this is his turn to be an only child. While he will enjoy that status I am sure he will miss his big sister. Being Carly’s little brother has not hurt him at all. His cousin heads into his senior year and is visiting prospective colleges to see where he might want to go.

As a teacher I looked forward to the beginning of a new year. I spent a lot of my time in my classroom before opening day getting the room ready for my new students. When I taught kindergarten I felt it was important to make the children feel comfortable about their new experience. Often I sent a note home that included a sheet to color. The children were instructed to bring it with them the first day of school. I left one bulletin board empty so there was room to display their work when they brought it. If they forgot it the first day they could bring later on and I would still put it up. It was amazing. The children admired their work and the work of their peers. You could see the pride reflected in their eyes.

Another thing I did one year was to ask the children to bring something that fit into their pocket to share with me and the class. That meant they had something from home with them. I read the book about Corduroy the bear and his pocket, then we looked at what each child found to bring. Through the years I had few tears that first day. Mostly the children were excited. Those in the school office told me they did see the parents crying as they left their little ones, often for the first time.

Once my children were in high school band practice began right after the fair ended. They had a full morning of practice then they came home and practiced some more. We could hear the children who lived in the neighborhood practicing. It seemed like the horns answered each other throughout the little valley where we lived.

So far I have mentioned nothing about shopping for school, but that was an important event. In most cases new clothes were necessary because the children outgrew things over the summer. It is hard to estimate how much a child will grow so as to be prepared.

When I was growing up my family often went to Buffalo to shop for my school clothes. My mom and I got on the train that was just up the road from where I lived and traveled to Buffalo. When we arrived in Buffalo we took the trolley to the downtown section. We always had our purchases sent home. That cut down on what we had to carry and it also saved us sales tax since the county in which we lived did not have a tax on clothing.

At the time that I had young children I did a lot of sewing. Clothes could be altered to fit for the coming year in many cases. We lived on the farm and were busy with farm work right up until it was time for school to start. We were not in the habit of doing much school shopping. The children had fall birthdays and we could usually make it until then.

Now the list of school supplies needed is long. Many of teachers, especially those in high school, require certain types of notebooks – even dictating the colors they required to separate their various sections of students.

There are great back-to-school sales running for school supplies if you watch for them. The newspaper supplements spell out all of the deals.

Thank you to all of you who responded to my hide-and-seek column, both by word of mouth and through technology. That must have struck a chord with many of you. I heard many additional stories about pets as I sat in the barn minding the cows at the county fair.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net