BOY's bus was 25 minutes late today. Coming home. I started to panic. His bus is never late coming home. At 15 minutes past I started to imagine horrible things. At 21 minutes past, I called the dispatch. The dispatch called the bus driver. The bus driver wasn't driving that route today. They put me on hold. 3 minutes ticked by...three long minutes. Finally, just as the dispatch came back on the line I saw the bus slowly coming up the street. Driving ever so carefully. Ever so...lost. I tried to focus on breathing, but knew that my eyes were looking a bit frantic.
Looking for your baby? the bus driver asked with a smile.
Yes. Yes, I am.
Honey, I was so...lost. And your BOY is SO smart. He told me what turns to take. I had to back up, turn around...I missed a turn.
By this time, BOY was absorbed in the various buttons on the bus. He grilled the bus driver.
What does this do? What is this for? What's that?
BOY appeared unconcerned about being on a hot bus an extra 25 minutes. I got him off the bus after his requisite 30 questions in 2 minutes had been answered.
I took in the pizza sauce on his cheek, and the stains on his shirt. I watched him. I asked him about school. He made me laugh. And then I started breathing again...
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He got to help drive the bus (sort of) I bet he didn't even notice the extra time. Glad you survived!
ReplyDeleteThat is a terrifying moment! Once when Angst was 5, he missed the bus at school. I drove up to the school to find him waiting there, and we both cried. My eyes are welling up with just the memory of it. I'm glad your boy arrived safely.
ReplyDeleteOh, I can't imagine relinquishing my babies to the double-door maw of the bus! Not that I have the option: they go to school in another town. I'm sure when they're older I'll resent having to drive them to school every day, but for now, I'm right in my comfort zone.
ReplyDeletehe knew he was safe. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love that the bus driver understood your concern, and then complimented your son.
Frightening but all ended well. And the driver was very sweet, and that Boy - so smart!!!
ReplyDeleteOur boy used to ride a long afternoon bus ride in first grade that was always irregular. The next year we changed his after-school routine to something a little less nervewracking.
Your boy must have felt like a superhero. He saved the bus driver. Knowing how secure and competent he is could almost be worth those 20 minutes of terror...
ReplyDeleteWhen my oldest was in Kindergarten he fell asleep on the bus and the bus driver forgot about him. He was only missing for about half an hour and he was completely unfazed by the experience but I never let him ride the bus again. In retrospect that was probably a mistake. Boys need opportunities to be superheros.
Motherhood is full of those moments--they are the absolute worst and they (thankfully) almost always turn out to be nothing. I'm glad yours was.
ReplyDeleteTrue story: On my sister's first day of kindergarten the bus driver got lost and was over an hour late. My sister stills fears buses.
ReplyDeleteI so know that feeling. Your mind unbidden starts imagining all kinds of things...none of them comfortable. I guess it's part of being a mother.
ReplyDeleteMy guys only ride the bus home. I can't stand the mystery of sending them to school & wondering whether they got there okay. I'd be that annoying parent that calls their classroom every morning just to hear their voices...
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to just drive them.
But, on the way home, they take the bus and, since there are two of them, I no longer wait at the corner.
... I watch from the window instead.
Just call me Mother Hen.
- Julia
It's funny how calm they can be, just living in the moment.
ReplyDeleteGlad all was well.
Wow; I get it...that panic and imagination rising up. I'd have been insane by 10 minutes late; that's how bad I am. Glad all was ok and that your son could help out the lost driver.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that feeling ever goes away.
ReplyDeleteAt least it hasn't yet.
oh my gosh - how scary! I'm always afraid on the first day of school that he'll get on the wrong bus...but so no bus issues!
ReplyDeletejust clicked here from Juggling Life!
Heart-stopping. It's a terrible feeling...
ReplyDeleteMercy. But good for BOY! I'm glad he wasn't fazed by the experience. You're breathing now, right? I am SO not ready for these things.
ReplyDelete