Snoopy Comes Home..and Goes To School

Most schools have already started back for the year a couple weeks ago, but in my day (cue old man voice), we didn't start until the Tuesday after Labor Day.

And in 1974, I was starting 2nd grade. But I wasn't starting it alone.  Not only was my sister still riding the school bus with me (her last year in elementary), but I had a brand new Snoopy lunchbox, made by Thermos by my side.

In the picture below, you can see me clutching it and charging toward our driveway after coming home on the first day of school.

A blurry, but I assure you, Snoopy lunchbox. Dig those red jeans.

I know this is the first day of school because my mother only took pictures of us on the first and last days of school. And, as I'll relay below, the Snoopy lunchbox sadly did not survive to the end of the year.

Oh, it made it most of the year.  As I recall, it was one of the first warm and sunny days of spring.  Exuberant with getting home from school and the anticipation for the coming end of the school year, I walked onto our patio and threw my Snoopy lunchbox joyously in the air.  It came down on a car wheel rim.  We always had junk laying around our patio.  Both my father and brothers were avid mechanics.  The plastic Snoopy lunchbox was no match for the iron wheel and it split, breaking the top off.

That was the last (and only) store bought lunchbox I ever had, maybe rightfully so after that incident.  I was a brown-bagger from thereon.  The thermos hung around for years, its painted picture of Snoopy joyously dancing slowing fading away.  I don't know when it was finally thrown out.

This past year while looking on the estatesales.net website, I spied an old friend.

I knew I had to renew an old friendship.  It was still there when I arrived at the sale.  It was $8, but what's a few dollars among friends.

I recall drinking room temperature milk out of that thermos many times. They didn't keep things very cold.

Here's an ad for this and the other available models from Thermos.  I'm guessing this is from a year later in 1975 based on the King Kong lunchbox.

And despite the title of this post, Snoopy didn't go back to school.  My youngest is in High School now and probably wouldn't be caught dead with it.  So for now, it sits on my shelf where I can look at it.  And I promise, Snoopy, I won't throw you in the air this time.