Just when I got used to seeing ziplock bags, glue sticks and headphones on the back-to-school supply lists instead of Big Chief notebooks, our world changed again.

Lists now include a water bottle, hand sanitizers, and don’t forget a mask.

As a safety measure there will be box lunches at Hennessey elementary and pre-K schools with only one food option. High school kids will get their choice of three items in the lunch room. It’s undecided if they will be allowed to leave the campus at lunchtime, and some fastfood businesses say they need the income.

Back in the 1950s, the smell of yeasty hot rolls signaled it was lunch time. Those years were also when we were lined up in the hallways, told to get on our knees, face the wall and cover our heads with our hands.

We girls had to pull the skirt of our dress up over our head.

Boys weren’t supposed to look.

All were safety precautions.

Not for tornadoes because we stood outside and watched those.

It was a safeguard for when the Russians bombed us, but thankfully they didn’t.

We’re faced with real safety issues every day during this COVID disaster, and surprise, Russian spies are reportedly targeting vaccine research labs here, in the UK and Canada.

Our Center for Disease Control says wearing a mask in public is the best way to keep us safe.

Some people don’t believe it.

I’m disappointed in our president’s and governor’s reactions to recommendations by health professionals, but proud that some Oklahoma cities require masks in public, and disappointed that Enid’s council voted it down.

Last week I saw a man climb out of his work truck and go into an Enid drug store as if he was on a mission. When I got inside I saw him get the attention of a clerk and say, “I need a children’s mask with pineapples on it. Where can I find it?”

They were out.

It’s not the 1950s anymore when I grew up and needed only clean clothes and polished black and white saddle oxfords for the start of school.

Back then there also were no seat belts in cars, but now every three-year-old knows to buckle-up to stay safe.

Let’s hope today’s parents and kids understand the importance of wearing a mask at school, and in public, and pray it’s not on next year’s school supply list.