Scene, Sunday, August 5, 2007
For many students around the globe, that first day of school is approaching quickly, maybe even as early as tomorrow morning. Here in Springfield, however, the boys and I won’t be setting our alarm clocks until after Labor Day.
That leaves me with very little to say about going back to school because I’m still in my summertime state of mind, lost in the fantasy that our long, lazy days by the neighborhood pool will last forever.
Since I’m unable to come up with back-to-school ideas for a column, I’m going to share a couple of Jimmy’s writing assignments from seventh grade. They’re much more entertaining that anything I could come up with and are full of his ideas about education, making new friends and planning a future.
The First Day of Schoolby Jimmy Zich9/6/06
(He obviously wrote this before he wrote Life of James Marshall Hendrix by James “Jimi” Zich and claimed the legendary guitarist’s nickname as his own.)
“Uuuhhhggg,” I sighed softly as I left my house for the bus. “What a miserable day,” I said to myself while I dreadfully slugged my way down the street in the rain that was pounding my umbrella like a stampede of horses running across a drum.
“Six schools in seven years,” I thought when I got to the bus stop.
I didn’t feel like talking to the eighth-graders standing beside me because it was 7:20 in the morning and I felt like a tired dog laying under a porch in a tornado.
But before long, a few more kids showed up. There wasn’t much talking between us, except for a conversation that two of the eighth-graders were having about TV and stuff.
Soon, 7:40 came and everyone but me and two eighth-graders had left. By then, my back was throbbing like a mole with arthritis in the dead of winter that still has ten tunnels to dig before spring.
Then, me and the eighth-graders got to talking, and time was flying like a jet on a sunny day over an empty desert.
By this time, it was 8 o’clock, and we were worried, but finally, at 8:06, the bus came.
I guess a late bus isn’t so bad. I made some friends.
My Future Plansby Jimi Zich12/21/06
In 20 years, I want to be in San Diego surfing. I just want to have a free, untethered lifestyle, just doing what I want. I’ll have to practice a lot to get that far, but first I have to graduate from college.
I don’t know where I’ll go to college.
Then, I’ll probably be a lawyer or something. Once I have been a lawyer for a few years, I’ll use some of the money as start-up money and move to California.
Then, I’ll enter a few surfing contests and get sponsors.
After that, I’ll just chill and surf all day.
A mother of three boys, Pam Zich has moved eight times in 16 years of marriage to her Marine Corps husband. They have been stationed in various locations, including Okinawa, California, Texas and their current home in Springfield, Va. E-mail her at homefront@stripes.osd.mil or find the Zichs online at www.lifeonthehomefront.com.
