New Year’s Resolutions

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions in January.  I make them in September.  Forever my opportunity for a new beginning is the start of the school year.  Of course I’m not in school any more, but it’s something that has stayed with me. 

Each school year was preceded by back-to-school shopping. My mother and I would take the trolley Downtown to pay annual homage to the trinity of Pittsburgh department stores, Kaufmann’s, Gimble Brothers, and Joseph Horne Company.  Yes, there was Saks Fifth Avenue (confoundingly on Smithfield Street, showing that in my world’s view, there was no place bigger than Pittsburgh), but we never shopped there.  And while we would visit the trio of department stores other occasions during the year, we only shopped in the Downtown flagship stores one time per year — in the waning days of summer. 

Each trip began with a reminder that if I got lost, I was to go to the Kaufmann’s Clock. It would have been easier for me to remember if “clock” was spelled with a “k.” The quest for Buster Brown brown Mary Janes with arch support, a cardigan, and a plaid jumper (on which the 4” x 6” index card with “Lynn Ann Ellenberger, Mrs. Watson, Bus 9” would soon be pinned), was punctuated with a meal at the Smithfield Cafe. You didn’t have to carry your department store purchases; they would be delivered to your house the next week by the department store’s delivery service.

On one bus ride home during my first academic year known as kindergarten, my new friend and I were distracted and she missed her bus stop.  I, in solidarity, but more likely because I, too, was confused and not paying attention, exited the bus with her, a few stops before mine.  She went one way and I the other. To avoid a scolding to try to make it seem that I had gotten off at the right stop, I proceeded to walk past my house on Vista Glen Drive and up the hill toward my actual bus stop (the “plan” being to then spin 180 degrees and stroll casually down from the bus stop to my home to make it appear like any other day), when my mother stuck her head out of the house and said, “Where are you going?” I should have cut through the back yard, instead of marching up the street.

I was not chastised by my mother for my inattentiveness and said deceitful plan, and when school the next day proceeded as usual, I began to relax, believing that I had successfully avoided reprobation.  But at bus boarding time, the principal was standing next to my bus.  “Who are the two girls who got off at the wrong stop yesterday?”  The choices appeared before me. I could hold my breath and continue to stare at the tips of my now-scuffed Mary Janes, effectively denying my role in the event.  Or I could look up, confess my mistake, and blame Paula Nation (no lie – say it a few times) for diverting me on the bus with her shenanigans, and take whatever punishment for which I was surely deserving.  Or, I could do both and raise my hand two inches and hope that no one would notice my gesture, which is what I did.

In addition to school clothes, there were also school supplies.  The 64 box of crayons (only $2.98 today) was the holy grail of the supply list — eight were expected but 64 were special.  Silver and Sky Blue came out of the box first.  A few years would bring pristine notebooks with bold, primary colored cardboard covers in which I would practice writing in cursive, “Lynn Clark, Lynn Clark, Lynn Clark, Lynn Clark,” dreaming of signing Esso gas station charges in my tan Volkswagen squareback wagon after marrying my fourth grade sweetheart Jimmy Clark. 

Recently I was shopping for school supplies for my Junior Tennis Star. I was admiring – no, envying — the beautiful, decorative and graphic covers on the tablets, the pastel erasable highlighters, and glitter gel pens.  Unicorns, rainbows, tie-dye, sigh. The school supplies are so beautiful.  I thought, “Why shouldn’t I also have a new tablet?”  So I bought the notebook pictured above: “Take Chances.”  This is my New Year’s resolution.  So, in addition to the usual sorts of New Year’s resolutions that I will undoubtedly make in the next few weeks – to cook healthy meals daily, to learn a slice, to do yoga at least twice a week and tennis three, and to spend more time straightening my hair in the morning, I promised myself that personally and professionally, I will take chances.