Day 20/180

I roll up to a grade school stop this morning not expecting it to be any different than any other day. There were a half dozen kids waiting for me to come along.  One first grade boy saw me and took a stance.  His feet were planted firmly.  He extended one arm straight toward me and I could practically see the energy waves coming from the palm of his hand.  The bus stopped.  He came on board.  I asked, "Did you use the force to stop the bus?" He just smiled and said, "Yep!" 

Day 19/180

It's Friday afternoon before a long weekend.  Everyone is in a hurry to get away.  Luckily one mom of a kindergartner had taken the time to cross the street and talk with another mom.  As her son ran toward her, instead of crossing the street, a car blew through both the stop sign on the corner and my stop arm.  Had he not seen his mom, he would have been hit.  Two days in a row in the same neighborhood at the same intersection.  People blame high school drivers, but so far I have only had adults run my stop arm.  

Day 18/180

At my first stop this afternoon I had someone run my stop arm.  Luckily I had called the kid that is supposed to cross the street there back to the bus for something.  He was safe.  People see one or two kids get off at a stop and don't realize I have 12 that exit the bus there.  Or they see a bunch and don't realize that the one last kid sitting in the back of the bus is struggling to get through a narrow isle with a french horn and it takes him twice as long as everyone else to get to the door.  Especially when it is raining, kids run form every direction to catch the bus at the last minute.  Morning or night, sun, rain, sleet, or snow, JUST STOP.  

Day 17/180

It's wiggly tooth Wednesday!  Once one kid comes up and shows you they have a wiggly tooth, EVERY kid wants to show you either their wiggly tooth. (Or the hole where it used to be.)  I told them all about my gym teacher when I was in grade school.  He was the HS football coach and a retired player from the 49ers.  If he ever found out you had a wiggly tooth he would pull it right then. Of course everyone always told him if anyone in the class needed his services.  I asked them if I should start tying a string to their teeth and when I open the bus door it would yank them out.  They all yelled NO! and ran back to their seats!

Day 16/180

 Warning!  Someone forgot to take his ADHD meds this morning!
"When I go swimming in the ocean my mom calls me a fish and sometimes they call me pescado because that is fish in Spanish and when I swim in the pool my mom still calls me fish and sometimes Michael Phelps..."
One sentence and 4 minutes later, I think he finally took a breath as he hopped off the bus.

Day 15/180

It's Monday morning and some people forgot to turn their brains back on.  As I pull into a round-about, I see a truck that had started to pull into it the wrong way because the driver didn't want to go 3/4s of the way around.  It's not the first time I've had to slam on the breaks so I didn't hit someone head on at this same round-about.  Luckily this time I didn't have a full bus of little kids that went sliding onto the floor.  He quickly backs up 3 feet and instead of waiting on me to pass, pulls directly in front of me.
In the afternoon someone ran my stop arm.  I am so done with Monday drivers!  

Day 14/180

A few of the 5th graders were having very grown up conversations this afternoon.  It started off with racism and wound its way to politics.  Some of the things that were said would have caused an argument between them last year.  But now that they are in middle school, these kids have magically figured out how to talk with people that have different opinions and not get hung up on proving that theirs is the only right view. (If only they could talk this way once they all become adults!)

As I heard bits and pieces of the conversation in between radio chatter, I could tell they had changed the subject once again.  This time it seemed like they were talking about capital punishment.  I was super impressed.  And then I heard... Darth Vader...

Good to know that 5th graders can still be 5th graders!