Ben takes the bus to school. Everyday. Whoever knows me knows that this "bus thing" has been an issue with me since the first day of kindergarten. I think it's because our mornings are INSANE as it is so having to catch the bus is just the cherry on top of the frantic sundae that is our weekday mornings.
Side note: I drive Ben to the bus stop in the morning. Not because I can't handle the 2 block walk but because it makes me get into work that much faster.
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This is the first day of second grade.
We made it to the bus on time that day. Needless to say I don't have pictures of us running down the sidewalk with me yelling "WAIT WAIT! WE HAVE ONE MORE!"
I can't even tally how much of my life has been spent in these past 3 years chasing this yellow bus down the streets of Madison. Or how much of our lives have been spent waiting and waiting and waiting to see it's headlights come up over the horizon. All the while saying a silent prayer that we didn't miss it and therefore have to hightail it to the next bus stop, hurl my kid out of the car while screaming at the other mothers "HOLD THAT BUS!" Ah, such class.
Al, my favorite of all the bus drivers, used to know my car so when he would see me in his rearview mirror he would literally stop in the middle of the street so I could rush Ben into the bus. I miss Al.
You see, as of late, the bus company has been doing something that resembles Murphy Brown's ever changing secretaries. (does anyone remember that show besides me?) I swear we get a new bus driver every 40 days. This may not seem like much to someone who doesn't have such a volatile relationship with the bus, but for me, it's a huge stressor because it usually takes them 40 days to get the route down.
Case and point, the newest bus driver. He's young, he's new and he's an IDIOT! The dude hasn't made it to the bus stop at the same time once! And just 1 minute can make a world of difference. Well at least to "frazzled-not-morning" mothers like me.
Monday, he was so late I was thinking we missed it so I started to drive forward to the next street when all the sudden it turns the corner and is coming right at us. I started to yell, with Ben laughing so hard in the back seat I thought he was going to puke "Oh my god! BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP!"
This morning I thought, ok he was late yesterday, he's going to be super early today. "Ben! Go go go! Get those boots on! Get your coat! For the love of everything that is holy, we are going to miss the bus!!"
We get to the bus stop at 7:07. I think we have a couple minutes as normally he should be there at 7:10. We wait. We wait. I start to get that feeling in my stomach. Ben encourages me to check another stop. As we drive, I see one of the dad's from another stop walking down the street on his way to work. NOT a good sign. I roll down my window…
"Did we miss it?"
"Yep" he says! "He was super early today. 3 kids had to make a run for it!"
As I'm driving Ben to school - which is amazingly out of the way and makes me amazingly crabby - I'm thinking about the complaint I’m going to call in as soon as I get to into work.
Instead, I write a post about this and all is well. Until tomorrow when I drag my half sleeping child to the bus stop 20 minutes early!
I'll show you Hot Shot! Oh, I'll show you…
2 comments:
So very difficult to read the rest of your blog when my eyes are wet from crying...laughing so hard...at the visual of you "hurling" your kid out of the window. As for class, sweetie, that would still be others!
I'm down with your class. Take it from a former chronic-misser-of-the-bus, this will not land your son in therapy later in life. Tossing him out the window of the car, yeah.
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