School's out forever

I'm guessing here as in most of the country kids have gone back to school. I don't have any kids myself to verify this, but I think the long lines of kids loitering on the street early in the morning and the big yellow buses driving all over everywhere are a good indication.

Since moving I've found that I now commute to work on one particular school bus route, which I've come actually to find quite entertaining. The bus that I always seem to catch at the right time, stops at two places along my commute. The first stop is an apartment complex. I didn't know they allowed so many children to live in apartment complexes, I'd almost be willing to bet there is some sort of underground smuggling at this particular place if my rational mind and caffeine didn't take over. Anyway this is an interesting group of children, mostly girls, including a set of twins. Every morning as they walk away from their mothers standing in there in mismatched pajamas and flip flops (I could be a mother btw just on this description alone), with looks of "thank god" on their face, the little girls wave back to their mothers, almost walking backwards most of the time, they wave and wave and wave and wave. It's almost like they are getting on the titanic and will never be seen again type wave. Soon after, however, it is apparent that their very own mothers are forgotten as they hold hands and skip down the aisle of the bus, to crowd together and talk about whatever exciting things little girls talk about these days.

The second stop is outside of a house, not but 1/2 mile down the road. Now, why this particular child can't hike it down to the apartment complex bus stop, I do not know. But when I was a kid....well you get the picture. This kid I think is my favorite morning entertainment so far. I've been on this commute/bus route for about a week now and everytime we come to the house, the exact same thing happens. (Maybe next week I can get the kid to pick out some lottery numbers for me since he is so predictable) This slight blond haired gangly little boy with his big spiderman backpack walks down the driveway with his mother. His mother is always well dressed, seemingly on her way to work soon after I assume. Anyway, every day this little boy walks confidently with his mother down the long drive way to the awaiting school bus doors. He usually takes one step into the bus, and then begins the tantrum. We're talking flailing arms, and crying, and screaming (I can't ever hear the screaming over the loud Sinead O'Conor I have blasting, but I can certainly see the kids tonsels). I'm sure his mother would like nothing less but to beat this child into submission, but I suppose one has to respect the innocence of the other children already on the bus. So after about 3 minutes of a tantrum, arms and legs failing, sitting down on the ground, mighty spiderman backpack deflated, his mother picks him up and drags him back to the house, perhaps to ensue beating behind close doors I'm not sure, but the kid always seems relieved not to have to get on the bus, and walks head held high in defiance back to the house.

Ah childhood, it's days like this that I miss it. I wish that I too could walk up to the mighty doors of work, throw my badge down, cry and scream, and flail, and squash my texas longhorn computer bag into the concrete. And that somehow my mother would magically appear, cover me in a james brownesqe cape, and walk me home. Ah well I suppose in all things there are repercussions, in the kids case, not being able to sit for a week, and in mine, not being allowed to sit for a week and collect a paycheck.

Oh the irony.