Am I late?

It's September, so the summer is coming to a close and the world is getting serious again.

For many children it's time to go back to school. For others, it's time to have that September nightmare of finding yourself in a classroom stark naked; or everyone in the classroom is speaking gibberish; or coming into an empty classroom to discover the final exam was yesterday, and you missed it!

No, I don't have issues from my years of education, why do you ask?

One thing I've been remembering a lot this week is "late slips" from my Junior High School years. I was late so often, I routinely went to the office to get a late slip before class, even if I wasn't late... my first taste of the fun to be had by confusing people and shaking up their world view. (So that's where that started... I didn't realize that until now.)

I've been having these "late slip" flashbacks because we've unwittingly moved to within 2 blocks of both a high school and an elementary grade school. I think it's the grade school that has bells. Bells at 8:55am, 9am, 10:30am, etc. etc. until the last one at 3pm.

It's the set of "you're going to be late in 5 minutes", "yes, you are late now" bells in the morning that really bug me.

It always makes me think "Am I late?" until I realize the bell does not toll for me.

I wonder how many more people they are scarring for life with those bells. Poor kids.