Returning the School Car

A sure sign for me of the end of another school year at the University of Northern Iowa is the returning of the school car to the UNI campus.  Although paperwork and other end of the year tasks will continue to be done over the next two weeks, returning the car is a important symbol that another year is done.

Maybe it's even more getting the car ready to turn in.  A school car used for 10 months by one person means that the car becomes a mobile office.  Parts of it takes on the resemblance to my work desk at home; random piles, layers of importance, a mix of items waiting to be thrown away and items that are critical to the job and can not be lost.

The trunk has two large plastic containers that include extra handbooks, observations sheets, note pads, random professional books. One or two grocery sacks that have open packages of napkins and throwaway bowls and plastic silverware are left over from the end of the previous semester's ice cream celebration.

By the end of the year, the car ends up with an umberalla or two, a snow scraper, and a small hand towel used to cover my lap to catch crumbs and to wipe fingers from the many snacks eaten on the go.  Of course, the floor and areas around the seat contain lots of evidence of my eating on the go. I wonder if the garage cleaning crew can track each of our favorite snacks from the stains and crumbs left behind after 10 months.

Turning in the car, the credit card and reporting the mileage driven during the year (9,871 miles), are the final steps of the process.  It will be about three months before I reverse the process and begin again.