Bus Stop[?]

Will woke up *SO EXCITED* for his first day of 1st Grade this morning! I had everything ready: clothes laid out, lunch (ham smammich, carrots, apple, & granola bar) packed, & backpack hanging on the closet door. He could not get out of this house fast enough! :-)

Yesterday I had looked up the bus schedule, and last night after dinner we walked to the bus stop together, just for a test run. Our elementary school is right at the front of our subdivision, but since our house is at the back of the sub, our street does actually get bus service! Just our street. :-P So it's kind of a perfect way to start out riding the bus: the whole ride is literally 7 minutes total, including every stop, and we're the first stop both morning & afternoon. His neighbor friend is also in his same classroom, so they can ride together, get to class together, & get back to the bus together each day = perfection. (Thank you, God, AGAIN for orchestrating this!!!)

This goes a loooong way to ease my heart! You ALL know, I have *never* been sad about ANY stage of my children growing up: walking = loved it, preschool = awesome, Kindergarten = no big deal; but 1st grade is getting to me! B/t this and the first lost teeth this summer, it's the first time I've ever felt my baby love boy slipping away! :-P My tummy dropped a little bit figuring out the bus stuff yesterday; I couldn't believe I was going to just let him ride off! :-D I was certainly more nervous than he was until we actually got to the bus stop this morning...

Will wanted to leave 20 minutes early; I got him down to 10. :-P We met all our precious neighbors on the corner, and everyone was so happy! All the moms & dads had cameras & videocameras, the sun was shining, it was great! (We even brought along our beagle, Bonnie Blue!) After we took a ton of cute pics...

one neighbor said, "By the way, the bus never came the first day of school last year, so we all had to drive them." WHAT?!?! They were all laughing about it, like it was no big deal, so I was OK with that. It made me feel better that they "lived through it" last year, their faith in the system wasn't shaken, :-P and everything turned out fine the next day. And sure enough, the bus was late. We waited 10 extra minutes, and then I asked Will, "Do you want to wait for the bus or go on & drive to school?" He did NOT want to be late on day one, so we walked home & got in the car.

I wasn't super jazzed that things were not starting out as planned, but I thought, "Maybe this way I can walk him in!" ;-) I asked what he wanted me to do, and he kept saying "Just drop me off!" :'( We drove the whole minute-an-a-half to school, and there was ZERO parking, so he got what he wanted.




There was a sea of children. Will got about 15 yards away from the car and froze in his tracks. Like he was lost. Like he had no clue where to go or what to do. My momma heart began to freak. You aren't supposed to park in the car line, but I didn't care. I jumped out & yelled, "Will! Ask an adult or one of the kids with the Safely Patrol belts on! It's OK!" [BTW: remember Safety Patrol?!?!?! One of the BEST geeky 5th Grade honors EVER!!! I felt like a rockstar! ;-)]

He heard me, but still just scanned the crowd for someone approachable. I saw a sign that said "K" and another that said "1", so I yelled, "Buddy! See the sign with the 1 on it? That's for 1st Grade! Go there!" About that time, our neighbor (who actually parked on the street in our sub that backs up to the school & walked through the trees :-D) saw us and yelled, "I've got him, Susie!" God bless you, Amy.

I know all of this sounds like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but in the swirl of all the kids & traffic with everything being BIG and new coming from quaint little Montessori, it *WAS* a big deal! I have no idea, yet, if Will was even worried at all or just trying to assess the large situation; but I know if that had been me, I would have been on the verge of tears to suddenly feel lost, and I could.not.take the thought of Will possibly feeling like that OR him starting his school year out that way. I prayed all last night for confidence & protection for him, and I know he's having a perfectly safe & happy day now...but it just wasn't the way *I* wanted to drop him off, you know?

Poor Sissy cried as we drove away, ("I want Will!") but luckily we were ready to go straight to her Montessori-parent-stay morning (before her official first day of school, which is tomorrow) and she got happy doing her favorite work in class. :-)





We both can't wait for Will to get home at 4:00, [#1 - yep, all us neighbors are trusting the bus will bring them back home :-) and #2 - I know 4:00 sounds SO LATE, but it's not like they start at 7:30; they don't start until 9 AM] and we're sure it's been an exciting day! I am so thankful for Will's good attitude & enthusiasm for school, for how easy it was to get up this morning even though I had NOT prepped myself with earlier get-ups last week, for the nice weather & sunshine at the bus[no]stop, for great neighbors who instilled confidence in the situation w/o even realizing how much they helped me, for a happy neighborhood with Will's school so close, for the wonderfully sympathetic adult "drop off" attendant who not only didn't fuss at me for parking in the "keep it moving" line but who actually smiled at me and asked which one Will was so she could go walk with him 2 seconds before Amy swooped in. :-)

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