The Dreaded Bus

Let's just make one thing very clear. . . I am not a fan of the bus! I feel very grateful that we live "too close" to all 3 schools (our Elementary School, Middle School, and High School) for my kids to ride the bus. I much prefer to drop them off and pick them up. (mainly so I can watch them walk into the front door of the school, and so I can see them the minute they are out of school instead of 25 minutes after the bell rings). Well, this happens to be a unique year for my kids (and our school district). Our elementary school is currently being remodeled (they say "remodeled" but I drove by it today and there is nothing left of the school I once attended myself), so our current MLE Huskies are attending a different Elementary school in our district. So instead of the usual 4 blocks we drive to school, it's about a 4 mile drive. (so not too far, but far enough that my kids "could" ride the bus this year, and this year ONLY). All the students who used to attend this school (the one my kids are now going to, are going to a brand new school up on the hill). So, there's been a whole Elementary school "shuffle." Well, Cristian has been asking me if he could ride the bus to school. Personally, I don't see the appeal, but all his friends ride the bus, so he wanted the chance to ride it too. So last Wednesday, I let him ride it for the first time. He was beaming with excitement; chanting "Bus, Bus, Bus" on the way to the bus stop. The kids and I dropped him off at the bus stop. I stood there with the other moms, it was kind of comical because we were all wearing our Juicy sweats and had a cup of coffee in hand as we waved good bye to our children. I saw Cristian's smiling face waving "I love you" as the bus pulled away. I felt "ok" with it. I would have preferred to drive him, but to see Cristian's excitement made it easier. The other moms and I had a brief conversation about how we all dislike the bus, then we went home and went about our usual business. At 3:25, the kids and I (and my sister) walked to the bus stop to wait for Cristian. His bus was scheduled to arrive at 3:35, but I wanted to get there in plenty of time in case it was a couple of minutes early. I had my camera in hand, because I figured C's first bus ride was worth documenting :) Well, we waited, and waited, and waited some more. I started getting a little concerned that I had the bus stop location wrong. I called the school bus line and was told I was in the right spot, the bus was just running late. (I was a little nervous about pick up, because Cristian actually was supposed to get on the bus in one location, but off the bus on different a stop). Well, the bus was 10 minutes late, but we finally saw it turn the corner towards us. It stopped, the kids started filing off one by one... but NO CRISTIAN??? The bus driver asked who I was waiting for, and I told her, and one of Cristian's friends stood up and said "He got off 2 stops ago." WHAT?? The bus driver got on her radio and asked the nearest bus to stop by to see if he was still standing there. Meanwhile, she had the school bus line call my cell so they could talk to me and get a description of him so they could have a police officer in the area start looking for him too. I took off running in my flip flops, pushing 2 kids in a stroller towards the other bus stop that he had gotten off on. It was about a 1/2 mile away but I got there in minutes. I looked around but did not see Cristian. There was a church on the corner of the street, I decided to walk around it to see if he was anywhere in site, but no Cristian. My next thought was to go to his friend Garrett's house, since that was his bus stop too and Cristian had been sitting by him on the bus. As I was running back around the church a woman came out from the office and said "Are you looking for someone?" And I responded, "YES, my son. Today was his first day riding the bus and he got off here on the wrong stop." She smiled at me and said, "He's in the Church office with me." PHEWW. . . Praise God. . . I felt instant relief. (the time was now after 4:00... so my son was "lost" for over 20 minutes... and let me tell you, those 20 MINUTES were FAR WORSE then the 32 HOURS I spent in labor with him!). When he came out the door he ran and gave me a big hug and burst into tears. My poor guy had been staying strong and calm the entire time, but when he saw me, he lost it! The woman said he tried calling me, but he only knew our home phone number. . . so that didn't do him a whole lot of good. I told Cristian he did the right thing... he found a safe place, and just stayed there. I told him had he walked home, or gone anywhere else, it would have been harder for me to find him. Cristian told me he NEVER wanted to ride the bus again, and as much as I wanted to say, "I don't ever want you to ride the bus again, either," I didn't want him to develop any lasting fears.

(ABOVE is a picture of me and the kids waiting for Cristian to get off the bus on the 1st day... as you can see we had a lazy day... I am still in my sweats, and the other two are still in their jammies).

So, the next morning, we went back to the bus stop. Cristian had now memorized both mine, Kyle, and my mom's cell phone numbers. (not sure why I hadn't had him learn those sooner!) We talked with the bus driver and decided it was going to be easier if he could just get on and OFF the bus at the same stop. She agreed! So, once again, he got on the bus, I stood there with the other moms in our sweats and cup of coffee in hand, and once again waved good bye to him. He was sitting with his friend Luke, the one who had told me where he had gotten off the bus the previous day. Luke said he would make sure Cristian didn't get lost again today (although my fear of him being confused on where to get off the bus was gone since he would be getting off at this very same spot), but none the less, I appreciated his friend helping make C feel more comfortable!

ABOVE is a picture of Cristian after he got off the bus on his 2nd day riding it. All smiles, and telling me he really likes riding the bus now that everything had gone smoothly that day! In fact, he even asked to ride it again on Friday! So all was well again. . . (we, as in Cristian and I, were over our fear of the bus and getting lost). . . UNTIL my Ava told me she wants to ride the bus too. Ai Yi Yi... well, atleast we worked out all the kinks already. Because the only thing worse then losing one of your children for 20 minutes, would be losing 2 of them.