Convocation Hall, Kings Edgehill School (and yes, I wore that uniform for 6 years!)
It's that time of year again - summer is winding down, back to school sales have started already (isn't it getting earlier each year?!!!), and everyone's gearing up to get back to it. Even though its been years since I was in school (8 to be exact), I still get that September feeling - the anticipation of something new and exciting, the change in the weather, the promise of adventure. I grew up on the campus of Kings Edgehill School - the oldest private school in Canada - where my dad has been teaching forever, he starts his 40th year next month. He met my mom when she was teaching at the girls school (Edgehill, before they joined together) and they lived on the campus until I was 18. We were so lucky to grow up on the campus- it was safe and a huge playground to fill with our imaginations and adventures!
I remember climbing all the trees on the field outside our house, watching the initiation mud run for all the new students, going for walks in the woods with my mom and dad and siblings and friends, skating on the pond (birthplace of hockey!!), sledding down the front hill in the winter, riding my bike around all summer when everyone had gone home, teaching myself to kick with my left foot on the soccer field outside our house, playing tennis and ball hockey, learning to skateboard, my brother's treeforts, my mom's huge garden, every door knob in the house for some reason, my lovely little room, all the secret hideaways in our old house (over 100 years old!), our wonderful old house in general, the leaf pile every fall...so many things.
I've decided that if I could find a way, I would go to school for the rest of my life. (I think I always get this way in September.) Enough of this working life malarky, I want to spend my days learning new things, writing, reading, researching, just escaping behind books and lectures. Going to art school, learning photography, a new language, how to build a shelf or fix a car, how to cook more things, how to illustrate children's books, how to be a yoga instructor, more about the history of all the different cultures around the world. There are so many things! Maybe I need to sign up for a course just to use my brain again. I wasn't even that happy at university, but it wasn't the learning that I didn't enjoy. If only we could go to school and still collect a pay check...wouldn't that be heaven?!! Does September make you think of school with longing?
5 comments:
September is always the start of a new year for me - forget about January! And yes, I still have that craving to go back to school with a stack of fresh notebooks and pens and learn, learn, learn!
I love your story about growing up on campus - what a marvelous experience.
The thought of more studying is good, I would love to study art and writing. I just remember trying really hard not to fall asleep at school. I love the picture though, September for me is a long walk in the forest as the leaves change colour. I'm a winter baby so it is nesting time for me, gazing lovingly at those boots and woolly jumpers
yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I would love to be a lifer! The weather has begun to get cooler and I can't stop thinking about school supplies and classes. I would love to go to university classes every year of my life! I'd be happiest if every month was October and every day I got to learn something and discuss something new!!
oh how amazing you think this. me too. i was just telling a friend. the only thing that interests me these days is taking classes and therapy. is there a career in there somewhere? LOL. yes i LOVE school. and, like you, wasnt that happy when i was in it. i think it was the deadlines that drove me crazy and the added stress of trying to get good grades. but gosh i SO hear you. i think it is really important to take classes. craft, philosophy, language, anything to keep your brain and interests flowing. ya know?
btw. your childhood and where you grew up sounds amazing. i can just picture the leaves... so pretty. and i love old door knobs. i envision the history and hands turning the knobs...
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