This morning I headed out for my first day of graduate school. I realized while I was doing some back to school shopping that graduate school and kindergarten have an awful lot in common.

1. The thermos: sure in kindergarten there was milk or juice or water in it. Now I carry in my flagon of coffee happily.
2. The lunch box: while I wish I had a Jem and the Holograms lunch box as I believe I did in kindergarten, the reusable containers in a reusable sac will have to do. (I should note the strange reality of the reemergence of the Smurfs, a childhood favorite).
3. Crayons. There was nothing quite like opening that fresh box of crayons all neatly in their colorful array. Now there’s an app for that.