Introducing the September Box Theme: Memories after School

In middle and high school, I went to an international school in Japan, so I had this blend of Western and Japanese culture mixed into one everyday life. After school time was where that showed up the most.

The bell would ring and my friends and I wouldn't actually leave. We stayed in the classroom and told ourselves we were "studying". This meant snacks spread out across the desks, laying out our pen collections for all of us to share, and a halfhearted attempt at our math homework somewhere in between. Honestly, we just talked. There was always so much to share, every single day.

Eventually someone would come kick us out so they could lock up the school gates. Even then we weren't ready to stop. A smaller group of us, whoever was headed the same direction, would walk to the bus stop together, and we always needed more time to talk than the walk actually gave us. Most days that meant a stop at our favorite bakery for a chocolate cornet bread bun, the horn shaped one with chocolate inside, and we kept talking the whole way there and back, with the afternoon light turning gold around us.

I get so nostalgic thinking about that time, and it means even more to me now. Those few hours after school were when I bonded with my best friends, people who are still my best friends today. It wasn't really about where we were or what we were doing. It was just having that time together, every day, that brought us so close.

That's where September's box comes from. We're calling it Memories After School: golden hour desks, retro cafes, slow afternoons after class. It's less about the classroom or the walk home, and more about the friends who made an ordinary afternoon feel worth holding onto.

I'll save what's inside for next week's newsletter. For now, I just wanted to share where this one came from, and the feeling I'm hoping it carries when it lands on your doorstep.