"Get back in here...in-side; recess is now over!" 

A Clarion, Calling: Heard, through the ages, stages, as "a strong emotional appeal...a call to action that is urget, important...otherwise time sensitive..."I said NOW!" A call we may have heard in the early AM, capitals for emphasis, just like we (eventually, "finally!") heard it or, more accurately, finally acted on it..."A wake-up call" as it's frequently referred to, colloquially speaking...in-formally...And a call that parents, most often moms have told me throughout the years of professional practice, that "I finally find myself shouting, on the verge of screaming, in order to finally get them "up and at 'em...out the door...back in when it's time to do their homework..." No easy solution, other than "Hey kids, guess what, I'm going to have your mom stop wasting time and breath and just start screaming before whispering, humming a happy tune, to wake you, "MOVE you..." A message conveyed in my office over the years which at least changes the tone of their conversation "for the time being"...

After all: After all this, all these posts on such an apparently blase topic as recess! which you, as an adult, probably have lost site of, a few years back, you may be wearing thin -- on attention, if not tolerance for having to read, reflect on the "true meaning" of this subject. Which is actually the point -- of this particular post which, in addition to the stuff you may be literally, in-advertently, tracking in on your shoes, but some other questionable material ("just what do you intend on doing with that...crap?!") -- see September 21st post for a re"fresher"😝!!! So, things you may have acquired while out and about -- both deliberately or more incidentally, along the way. No matter where and when this finds you, the main point of all this, using recess! as a "matter of convenience" -- fore-shadowing of something more fore-boding, a future post about how recess! itself may be at risk, so many years just taken for granted...as if it were a "right" rather than a privilege which can be yanked away even at the last minute, as the "boy in question" has one foot out rhe door...😢😡. An important pause prior to going out or even in the midst of the action, to "check your-self!" from time-to-time..."up and down, inside and out..." Lest you get stopped, "in your tracks" or worst yet, get yelled at (see "clarion call") for tracking, bringing stuff it that you did not have in your possession on your way out. Which the recess! supervisor or your teacher, 'greeting' you at the door, may 'suggest' re-moval in whatever constitutes a sort of 'breezeway' (foyer?) which, for students and teachers collectively sort of serves as a DMZ ("Demilitarized Zone", for those of you not schooled in recess! vernacular) A place for you to "shake it off!" prior to re-entering, before "settling down, getting back to work, finish the task at hand..." 

As for the rest, us all: Depending on who hanging around with, or where, as in the play-grounds of life, or places of work...as the old saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt" It's as if it's (first simple irritability, then, fully experienced as "contempt!") inevitable -- after starting out so innocently, when you hardly noticed the "dude" next to you...what developmentalists refer to as "parallel play" -- which eventually, for most of us, unless we are an outlier, or even outside the sandbox, eventuates in more "interactive" play (can't remember who initiated the conversation, only that we started getting acquainted with...) -- which, in turn, given sufficient time and opportunities...stirs up feelings of negativity, friction...even if we are out enjoying the out-of-doors, let alone "stuck inside" So, prior to "coming back in" as in re-engaging with the persons in question -- especially those that gave rise to such "baggage" you may be carrying, weighing you down...or find you acting a bit "defensive!" -- a low tolerance for anything that might even suggest an intention of being "offensive!" Which can accumulate even after such a brief and benign place and time as recess! Let alone places and times of obligation: "Get back in here...NOW, and get back to WORK!" 

Stepping litely: No matter where or when this finds you -- hope-fully not in state of urgency or, worse yet..."frenzy!" it's good to give yourself a recess! -- call it "respite"😔 if you'd rather, before moving on to the next stage, of life, what awaits you...what you may be carrying with you...left in your wake...prior to taking on more of life's challenges. Yep, before you even consider, once you're confronted, to "take the 5th" (as in "it's my constitutional right!") -- it's recommended that you first step back, just one step...which, given my elementary math, lands me and you at "Step 4" -- traditionally known in "12 Step" programs as taking a "fearless moral inventory" of our-Selves, prior to pointing fingers -- an inventory of not only the resentments (aka "contempts!") you may be holding onto but, across the aisle, the ways in which, intentional or not, you may have hurt others, or come up short, on their behalf. Which is nicely packaged, all in one phrase, as a clarion call to the children coming in from play...issued from the greeter at the door..."Children, if you are experiencing any issues amongst yourselves...use your (measured, kind, respect-full...) words..." Sort of a Step 4, lite. Nice. Now, "Go and..."

"Make good choices!" Lest you find your-self sitting outside the office door. 

Next, NOT least: The final frontier: RECESS! under threat. "Say it isn't so!"😟😡😢