Fall Into the Gap

Don't you remember those old Gap commericals? With all the cutest girls, with the hippest new clothes, and the shiny new backpacks? The days of school shopping and sharp new pencils?

This year is the first year since I can remember that I'm not going back to school. Many of my friends are back to college, some of the "little" kids I used to know are going through their first days of high school and college, and everything is happening just as it does every year.

Which leads me down that fickle little road called memory lane. Back to my first day of kindergarten, when I stained my brand new shirt with strawberry juice, and seventh grade, when I was devestated I didn't make the intramural volleyball team, and senior year, when I could finally drive to school...

School is great at compartmentalizing life. Until you are eighteen, mostly everyone is on the same path. You pass the landmarks of first grade, second grade, third grade, all together. And for the most part, college is like that too. Most people these days go to college - maybe you're on the five year plan, or you study abroad, or go to a two year school, but everyone is still passing through the familiar landmarks of growing up. Expiermenting with alcohol, getting into more serious relationships, discovering who you might want to be for the rest of your life.

But after college, those neat little compartments - they go away. There's no one to tell you when to hit the next landmark, and even scarier, there's no one telling you what that landmark is. Marriage? Career advancement? Kids? It can happen at 22 or 34, or quite possibly never at all. And that can be a little daunting.

But there is a silver lining! It means that you can write the rules. Don't like the conventional landmarks? Then change them. Ready for bigger and better things? Then get on your way.

I'm right there with you...but not before back to school shopping. Who says you can't look fabulous for the first day of school, even if you're not going to a classroom?