I laugh at your school supplies

You know that Staples commercial, the one with the father pushing his shopping cart down the aisles of the store, skipping and laughing and tossing flower petals along the way?

That’s me this year, only instead of being exorbitantly happy about sending my kids off to school, this year I’m celebrating the relief felt by my wallet.

For the first time in 17 years, I don’t have to buy school supplies. Not a notebook, not a backpack, not even a small rubber eraser.

<insert your own vision of me doing the happy dance here> (You’re welcome.)

My kids, at ages 19 and 22, have made the conscious decision to put off college until they know what they’re really and truly passionate about. Why spend the money, they contend, if they aren’t sure what they want to do? And – since they’re both happily working full-time jobs (albeit at meager wages) – I applaud their logic for now. As every parent does, I want my kids to be happy and successful and to live comfortable lives. That’s my wish for them. The definitions of “happy,” “successful” and “comfortable” are theirs to create.

In the meantime, I’ve been walking blissfully past all of the crayons and notebooks and folders and protractors and too-expensive calculators they’ll likely never use again. I gave a smirk and a nod to the parents scrambling for the school supply lists and hoping they’re not too late to fill it before classes start.

So maybe there’s something to this whole “getting older” thing, after all …