A line in this week's paper pronounced the "dog days of summer are behind us." Good! When I walked out earlier today to pick the newspaper off the sidewalk, the air felt changed, a familiar hint of fall hanging in the morning. Maybe I feel this way because yesterday I helped my son ready his classroom, an intimate yet fading memory. All the signs are here--flyers for back-to-school sales fall out of the newspaper, bins of school supplies stand front and center at Walmart, and articles instruct parents on packing nutritious lunches and helping children transition back into school year rhythms. Even though I no longer plan and prepare to enter my own classroom, I still experience a curious sense of excitement about beginning a new school year. I guess old habits don't end easily.
We started this week on a mini vacation in Erie, pedaling around Presque Isle, relaxing on its inviting beach, and swimming in the cool blue of Lake Erie.
Later this week, I wrapped up what has become a traditional last-gasp-of-summer/back-to-school charity project for me--assembling baby care and school kits for Lutheran World Relief. While preparing for my granddaughter, I knit an extra sweater and bought the items needed for a baby kit. And as soon as school supplies went on sale for this fall, I stocked up on the things needed to fill two school kits. Since I will soon be nana to three children (Alex, Jamie. and little lady Campbell), making three kits seemed exactly the right number. It only took less than a morning to sew two bags needed to hold the list of supplies required for a school kit.
As always, when sewing or knitting a gift, I think about the recipient. In this case, I wonder about the children receiving these school supplies and the mother using the contents of the baby kit. According to the map on the website of Lutheran World relief, these kits may travel south to a Central or South American country or east to somewhere in Africa, India, or Asia. It is difficult to imagine these two school kits and one baby kit journeying to places I have never seen and helping children I will never know. I wish them God's speed and good graces...from my home and heart to theirs.
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