School's out! A sweet, sweet sound

The last day of school.

Some of the most wonderful words in the English language when you're young.

No more teachers, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.

I remember yelling that when I was a boy in Brooklyn, N.Y., fleeing St. Gabriel's School and the nuns for summers I thought would never end.

Stoop ball in the projects. Trips to Jones Beach. CYO Camp in Astoria, N.Y.

As I got older and we moved to New Jersey, summers meant working in the state park, going down the Jersey Shore, and hanging out in a place called Pleasureland in Oakland, N.J.

But it all started with that feeling of freedom after the final bell rang for the year.

It was such a fleeting sensation and so long ago, but it's still nice to recognize it in the voices of others.

Like Lexa Murphy, daughter of restaurateur Sean and his wife Susan.

I had called her at Emory University in suburban Atlanta a couple of years ago and I can still hear her glee:

"I just finished my last exam and I'm going to a Braves game!"

School was out, all right.

Sigh!