September Traditions

Historically, we have always seen Labor Day as the unofficial end of summer, and we’d be returning back to school that next week. Now, it seems that Columbus Day may have taken over that mantle as New Englanders seek to extend our outdoor time, before closing up camp, winterizing the boats,and enjoying a trip to the lake or down to the beach. 

Growing up in New Hampshire my mom would have us on the bus for the twenty-five-cent ride into Concord to update a few pieces of our wardrobe so we would look good for that first week of the new school year. I guess you could say it was a tradition of sorts, a new pair of sneakers, a pair of jeans, and a couple of shirts or a sweatshirt. Now, if we were lucky,we’d maybe have a ham salad sandwich with fries and a Coke for the whopping cost of about $1.25 or so at the lunch counter at JJ Newberry’s or Woolworth’s. 

Here in Florida the kids go back to school a little earlier but enjoy getting out earlier in the spring, but the tradition of looking good that first week of the new school year stays intact for the most part. 

We never had backpacks to carry our stuff with us. Neither did we have the luxury of our parents dropping us off at school or a bus to take us there. Many of the schools today are “regional” in nature, therefore necessitating the need for a centralized transportation system. If we lived within a mile and a half from school, we walked or rode our bikes weather permitting.  

I’ll always remember walking to school with a number of the neighborhood kids. The girls walked with their separate groups as did the boys. I always think about those mornings when Jim and Roger Lowell would meet me at the corner of our street and we’d walk down West Main Street, where we’d meet up with Wayne and Dave Nickerson and we’d all walk together throughout our elementary school years and into high school. Unfortunately, all four of them are gone now, but we were lifelong friends throughout those years. 

I’m always amazed at the backup of vehicles which extend around Tommy Barfield Elementary as parents drop off their children in the morning, in addition to the Collier County School Buses that drop off children at both Tommie Barfield and the Charter Middle School students. In the afternoons, you can watch a number of those Tommie Barfield students, along with the school crossing guards who assist them across San Marco Road on their way to the Greater Marco YMCA After School Programs, which keep them busy until their parents pick them up after work. I must also mention the great job done by the Marco Police Department as they help to keep those little ones safe as they cross the busy San Marco roadway. 

When I see those little ones receive assistance from the local officers while saying hello tothem as they assist kids across the road reminds me of Officer Joe Keenan some 65-plus years ago helping us cross the busy intersection we had to walk across on our way to school or after school each day. As kids, we knew “Officer Joe” would be there to keep us safe and looked forward to saying hello to him. 

That same School Resource Officer (SRO) has been a wonderful program that provides a foundation of trust and respect at an early age for our children and those who serve to protect them. I shake my head today as I think about the necessity of why we have to place officers within the schools but thank God every day when I see them at their posts within these buildings, which should act as a safe haven for some of the most vulnerable in today’s society. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you to be aware of the kids out walking to and from school, and the need to abide by the school zone speed limits and watch for bikers riding to school. 

Here in Florida, we are blessed with some of the best weather anywhere in the country. I think back on my experiences growing up in New Hampshire and dreading those cold days, which I knew were coming in just a few months. Here our children have the luxury of playing outside twelve months out of the year.Moms or dads don’t have to start the car twenty minutes ahead of time to allow for it to warm up or shovel a path out to the car. No, I don’t miss those days, as I’m sure you don’t! 

While having coffee the other day one of my friends spoke about how fall was coming. He reminded me what a pleasure it was not to have to rake those leaves off his lawn in theAdirondacks, but how he missed the change of seasons, which brought a number of unflattering responses from a number of us at the table.