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Do you remember this? Pure, unadulterated enjoyment. The last weekend before nine months in the classroom. The only glimmer of hope at the zero hour and the last chance to run amok like a drunken Hollywood starlet.**

I do, all too well.

The feeling of day one of the school year haunted me for two decades. That weekend had the effect of a culmination of every Sunday night from August through June happening all at once. It was sort of like being blindsided with inevitably bad news. Like a trip to the dentist after eating cotton candy dipped in caramel, chocolate sauce and 3/4 inch button head screws.

Not good.

How do I know? Because I recently lost half a tooth to a similar foe — a plastic wrapper.

Anyway, I’m a proponent of education, sure. But as a kid, it was never exciting for me to end my days of no shoes, no shirt, no reform in favor of the scent of rubber cement and the sights and sounds of brick school house U.S.A.

This image above reminds me of everything I loved about youth. Freedom, exhilaration and running water (pay your bills kids). I took this image as a last ditch effort for today’s feature art. And appropriately enough, it works as an illustration for the end of summer and the beginning of another academic year.

Thanks for looking and good luck to all who will return to their appropriate educational facilities in the week ahead.

**These kids were soberly running amok in a good-natured fashion just in case you were wondering.