This morning, I had to make a Target run to get a bunch of things like dishwasher detergent, Q-tips, and garbage bags. My Mom took me and whenever we go to Target, she always has to look at the movies. When I was done getting my things, before we left, we walked over to the movie section for my Mom to see what was on sale. (She still buys DVDs even though she has a Blu-ray player, but she won’t buy a DVD for more than four or five dollars).
I went over with her for the ride because pushing myself in a wheelchair is good for my upper body. It was early in the morning so there were not a lot of people there so I could take my time without being in people’s way. There were like five cars in the parking lot. As she was looking at movies, I ran into this kiosk:
My heart stopped for a moment because this was the first year that I would not be showing my kids It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I don’t even have any kids at school anymore. I’m not even at school anymore.
I didn’t begin showing my kids this movie right when I began teaching. I had bought Sean a whole bunch of Christmas movies to watch when he was four and I had gotten A Charlie Brown Christmas movie. I needed a time filler one year because we had shortened classes because of the Christmas dance we were having. The Charlie Brown movie would work out great because of the shortened class time and I knew it was school appropriate.
Over the next couple of years, I added different Charlie Brown movies because my kids in the Read Naturally program read a story about Charles Schultz so I wanted them to have a reference point. The movies were dated but the kids didn’t mind. They thought Peppermint Patty was a boy. I think I probably showed the Charlie Brown movies on all of the different holidays. It became my “Time hing.” As we were leaving the movie section, I saw this sign:
Seeing these Charlie Brown advertisements right by Halloween, my heart hurt and I was sad. This was the first time I REALLY missed teaching! I know this won’t be the last time but it hurt because it was my first time. Maybe I should stay away from Target by Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and I showed a combination of You’re the Greatest, Charlie Brown and You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown at the end of the year. My Mom found a couple of movies and then we left to check out.