School Bus

 

Lilly is in the first grade. Rose is in the sixth. This means they are in different schools and take different buses in the morning. Today was “day one” and a small knot of observers-Oma, Mom, Sam from down the street, and Rose and me-gathered at the bottom of the driveway to await the arrival of Lilly’s bus. Dahlia would not be left behind up  at the house and was there as well. Only little Bee hung back and peeked sheepishly from high up on the deck overlooking the driveway. You could just see her nose poking through the balusters. I felt bad for her. She is a little bit cowed by much larger Dahlia and Dahlia has no qualms about pushing Bee to the side and assuming superior position all the time. So far I think Bee’s life has been the most affected by the North Carolina transplantation. 

The school bus was close to thirty minutes late.  Sam went home to get ready for work and said she would come back to see Rose catch her bus a little later. Elisabeth, Bailey and I and the scalped colie waited patiently on the driveway, sitting on the rock wall and peering out, into the distance, hoping to catch a glimpse of the big yellow bus rolling through the neighborhood. It pulled to a stop right at the foot of the driveway. The driver opened her window and Lilly crossed in front of the bus and climbed in like she had been doing it for years.  The driver and I recognized each other immediately. I had been waving at her, and she’d been greeting me with a toot on the horn for a couple of years. I passed her on the road while I walked the dogs both in the morning and evening and I recognized her in a flash. She was always smiling. That smile is a good sign that Lilly will have a good experience on the long ride too and from school each day. I worried about the length of the ride for the kids. Our neighborhood is the earliest pick-up in the morning and the last drop-off at night. The “commute” adds a lot of time to their school day and if it is uncomfortable or the driver is mean and nasty it could negatively impact the day for them. So, a happy, smiling driver is a good thing.

There was another half hour or so until Rose’s bus was scheduled to arrive. Of course, it was late as well. The afternoon buses were also a bit late but I guess the schedule will tighten up as the routine sets in. I could tell that Elisabeth was used to the whole bus thing because she was the one who went through it with our kids. I was in the city working all through the school bus experience and it feels very foreign to me. There should be a tradition or a law that has men share the children/school experience with the wives. Maybe that would tighten the bonds of the family even more firmly. And wouldn’t it be good if all the women out there who just went through the pregnancy and the birthing and the infant rearing got a chance to breath in the semi-clear air of the work-a-day world typically reserved for the male human animal? This is one part of the family experience that we’ve gotten wrong.

I am learning a lot from my new family experience. At least I think I am.