The Bus.

*This post is IN NO WAY A JUDGEMENT ON ANYONE ELSE and is just my personal freakish issue with the school bus.  I know that I'm on the fringe about this (I had an alien to blame it on, remember?) and that the rest of you are sane, reasonable people.

So apparently, when you have brain surgery, people frown on you driving afterwards. 

Go figure.

Dr. Brains-On-Call told me that I definitely shouldn't drive for a month, and that really I should wait until my 6-week check-up, because if something were to happen, no matter what, it would be considered my fault and someone could sue the pants off me. 

Nice.


He gave me a stern warning and said that he's seen it happen and he doesn't want it to happen to me.

Plus, I'm still on narcotics and pretty sure you're not supposed to "operate heavy machinery while taking this medication". 

Which means construction work is out for now, too.  Ha!

Anywho, I am grounded until at least November 12th, when I will see Dr. Brains again and hopefully he will say that I am healthy enough for driving activity.

Not being able to drive though is seriously cutting into my ability to feel normal.

Stink.

It hasn't been as bad for the past two weeks because my mom and Dr. C's parents have been here to do all the driving that I usually do.  But now that they've left, we've had to make some adjustments to our normal routine.

Which means T-Man, Fearless, and Miss B now have to ride the school bus.

I hate the school bus.

They have never ridden the bus before.  In The South, kindergartners through seniors in high school all rode the same bus and there was no way on this green earth I was letting my kindergartner ride the same bus as middle school and high school students.  And honestly, I don't know of very many people that had their kids ride the bus there.  Just about everyone did the carpool thing.

But here in the Midwest, there are separate buses for elementary, middle school, and high school students.  And just about everyone here has their kids ride the bus.

Except me.

I rode the school bus while growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis. 
It was awful. 
While I can't pinpoint one particular bad experience, the overall is Not Good. 

I remember kids being bullied and fights on the bus.  I remember at a young age learning a lot about human anatomy and what people do with their human anatomy and interesting-words-for-human-anatomy and interesting-words-for-what-people-do-with-their-human-anatomy.  I remember kids smoking cigarettes that they had stolen from their parents at the bus stop; taking a large inhale right as the bus stopped in front of them, and then exhaling it out on everyone once they got on the bus. 

Ah, the memories.

And don't even get me started on some of the stories of horrible bus experiences that I learned about while I was training to be a Social Worker and certifying in Child Protective Services.

Suffice it to say, I have serious bus issues.

But for now, necessity trumps all.

And today, they rode the bus for the first time.

Dr. C, T-Man, and Fearless, waiting at the bus stop.

T-Man, Fearless and some neighbor kids, getting on the bus

 I know that I am a bit crazy-eyed on this issue.  And that zillions of kids ride the school bus everyday, no problem.  But for me...I have always seen it as one small area where I can insulate my kids for just a little bit longer.  Where I can shelter them from the things-they-are-going-to-learn-somewhere for just a few minutes everyday.  I don't care how much gas costs.  I don't care how much time it takes out of my day to drive them and pick them up.  To me, it is all worth it to protect my little loveys.

And now...I have to let that go for the next month or so.

Mom fail.

To my children's credit, they were EXCITED to ride the bus (I try to hide my bus issues from them!) and they see it as a new adventure.

Miss B, happy to wait for the bus.

Miss B took over the camera while we were waiting and got this pic of me.

Miss B in her "bus" which is really a suburban and she is the only passenger.

They came home today, bustling with news about who they saw on the bus and who they sat with and how they looooooovvvvve the bus.

I'm happy that they are happy.

But I will be happier when I can take them again.

November 12th can't come fast enough.

P.S. It's funny how God works things out...Miss B only gets to ride a bus because she has special needs.  If she were a typically developing child, I would have had to find a ride for her everyday. 

Who knew when she was born that her having Down syndrome would bless our lives again in this small way by allowing her to ride the bus to school when I couldn't drive her because I had brain surgery?? 

Heavenly Father knew and everything is all working out according to His plan. 

Amazing.