the yellow backpack

classroom of grace.

Posted on 31. Jan, 2010 by admin.

I write often. Mostly about silly things-- yellow backpacks and coffee and Christmas.  It helps keep writing fun, because research and theology papers have the ability to suck all life out of writing. Also, I kind of want to prove to my grandchildren that I lived an entertaining life and didn’t merely sit around and knit (though I’m realizing more and more that my life is becoming one of a grandmother: my body shuts down with the Sun, I swear by Denny’s, and I do knit and like books). Lots of things are fun and lack purpose though, so I don’t ever want to dismiss my purpose in writing (or going to class or serving or being in Pi Phi or whatever else my scattered schedule holds this week). I write to bring glory…

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Limited Yellow Year

Posted on 01. Jan, 2010 by admin.

You know I love my yellow backpack (with its coffee stains and all).  The backpack is bright; it’s cheery; it’s always nearby, and it’s needed. For Christmas I got my first winter coat in years, and living in Missouri we can all admit it was needed.  It’s yellow.  As is the single purse I’ve begun to carry everywhere. Never were all together.  It wasn’t until I was travelling with all 3—purse, coat, and backpack— that a harsh reality struck: Yellow overload. Maybe when you’re 4 being Miss Missymatchy is cute.  But not 21. Definitely not. I’m not commenting on fashion (because I know absolute nothing of the sorts) nor am I endorsing my favorite color (YELLOW ALL OF THE WAY!!! Uhh… no).  I…

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Best Part of the Alarm Clock

Posted on 12. Nov, 2009 by admin.

A while ago I wrote about my new yellow backpack.  At the the time, the bright yellow backpack put a little skip in my step, but inevitably the backpack got old.  My organization failed; stray papers found themselves crumpled in the bottom, my many coffee spills dulled the yellow, and for about a week I even aimlessly carried around a hole punch without knowing it.  Little circle cutouts filled the bottom like an unwanted snow accompanied by crumbs, sticky-ness, and homework.  Newness completely gone.  Meh. Growing up I would always buy my new school shoes during the summer and yearn for orientation when I was allowed to wear them.  The anticipation built so much that on the first…

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More than a Yellow Backpack

Posted on 18. Sep, 2009 by admin.

Chapter 1: Monday I got a new yellow backpack.  All at once going to class became exciting because I got to line my pencils in the pockets and slip my computer into the built-in case.  Though I’m sure no one noticed my new toy, I felt the newness close to my back all afternoon and I couldn’t help but skip a little. This backpack, I immediately learned, is a few inches wider than my other.  I knocked it on every doorframe that first day, and people acted as if I should be embarrassed.  I didn’t mind though, because I had a new yellow backpack.  It’s probably the first one since kindergarten.  A spark was lit for the mundane as the child within me

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