BETWEEN THE LINES: BACK-TO-SCHOOL FEVER RUNS RAMPANT ACROSS AREA

Blank pages line the notebooks. Pencils are sharpened. All the pens still have their caps and are full of ink.

It is time for students to head back to school -- elementary, high school and college students around town head back to the classroom this week.

And can you ever tell it.

As a kid, I liked going back to school. You got to go shopping for all this new stuff: pencils, notebooks, backpacks, lunch boxes, clothes. Parents buy everything you need for a fresh start at school.

Life was so much easier when your biggest decision was which cartoon character lunch box to buy or which color Trapper Keeper you wanted.

My how things change.

Going back to class at the university level was another story altogether. Somehow getting school supplies wasn't as much fun when I had to pay for them myself. Besides, I didn't need a new lunch box and certainly couldn't afford a new backpack each semester.

And it wasn't even the actual supplies that broke the bank. Textbooks nearly sent me to the poorhouse each semester. (I guess that's what student loans are for.)

Actually I liked college, and I didn't mind the classes much either. It was the moving from apartment to apartment that really inconvenienced me.

I moved three times in four years of school. I knew people who moved more often, but with all my experience I'm nearly an expert at packing.

Moving into a new apartment means having to move all your stuff -- not just yourself. And since I usually shared an apartment, it also means sharing your living space.

Some places I lived were a little roomier than others. I learned to adjust -- and to stuff my belongings in every bin and tub I could find.

I probably raised stock prices for the under-the-bed storage companies because I bought so many boxes.

On a weekend shopping trip, I encountered plenty of students returning to their dorms and apartments, both here and in Southern Illinois. As I wandered through the stores looking for bargains, I was forced to maneuver through the aisles with all the college students trying to find containers for all their stuff.

They walked through the stores carrying armloads of household necessities and plenty of junk foods. Some were standing in the aisles looking dumbfounded, trying to decide just where to start.

I didn't envy them. Don't get me wrong, I loved college. I hated moving into the apartment each August.

Now that I don't get back-to-school fever or anticipate an August apartment move, life just isn't the same.

Maybe someone should create special sale bargains for the finished-with-school crowd. It could be a "back-to-work" sale. Or even a "you're-still-working-even-though-it's-summer" sale. I really could go for that, and maybe a monthlong semester break in midwinter and a three-month summer vacation, too.

~Laura Johnston is a copy editor for the Southeast Missourian.