We Keep Missing

History is in the making right now: this is Duncan's first day riding the bus home from school. Will he make it?

I am sitting here on pins and needles, waiting to see if he gets home. There was a morning fiasco with the bus. It didn't show up, and I had to drive Duncan and one of the neighbor kids to school this morning. I was all fired up, ready to call the busing guy and give him a piece of my mind. Until I remembered, upon pulling up to the high school and noticing a distinct lack of cars in the parking lot, and very few people milling about the school grounds, that today is WEDNESDAY. And WEDNESDAY is late start for the high school. It starts at 8:55, rather than 7:40. So the bus didn't not show, it just had yet to show.

Okay. Fine. So we screwed up, not them. The boys just got to school an hour early. I was still a little miffed, because we didn't know his bus number. I told Duncan to take note of the bus number in the morning so he would know which one to take home. Now, after school, Duncan and his buddy have to try to find the right bus to get on, out of probably 8 or 10 buses that line up in front of the building after school. And they have about 2 minutes to find it, before the buses start pulling away.

And that is why I am nervous. I can just see them getting on the wrong bus. Granted, in a town the size of ours, any school bus they got on couldn't take them too far from home. I could really do without the stress of trying to track down my kid if he doesn't show up though.

And Duncan has a history with this kind of thing: In second grade, on his first day riding the bus home from school then, I was anxiously waiting in the front yard for him. The bus stopped, and Duncan didn't get off. I had to jump in my car and track the bus down. The other kids on the bus were very upset that Duncan had missed his stop, but Duncan wasn't bothered in the least. Neither was the bus driver. She didn't know which stop he belonged at, but she said she for sure wouldn't have taken him home with her.

Okay, Duncan just called. They missed the bus.

Well, at least they aren't lost. I'm off to get them. We will try again tomorrow.