Our beloved normal, wonderful, prompt and excellent bus driver, Janet, had a car accident this past week. She is okay, but needed to rest, as she had a head injury. She deserved to have time off.
Enter incompetency.
I wait and wait and wait for the bus on Wednesday. My front porch light is on and I’m going to and from my car, loading things for work. There is no bus. I walk outside. I see the bus two doors down from me. I waive my arms. The bus moves forward and goes back into our subdivision and disappears from my sight. I wait. I call transportation. She radios the bus and I can hear the whole thing. “You need to go back for Anna McCann.” “Yeah, the voice says, there were no lights at the house.” That’s a lie I think, but I keep quiet. She says she will turn around. She comes back the same way and stops in front of our house. She is not facing the right side to let Anna get on the lift. She sits there. I wonder if she is going to turn around. Finally she moves forward. I think she will turn around the block. Nope. She goes all the way to the end of the road to turn around somewhere. Now I see her stopping for all the cars that are going to work, they are leaving now backing out of their driveways because she is 25 minutes late. I wait. Finally she comes to my home and stops. I roll Anna out. She says nothing to me. Not, “Hi, I’m sorry I’m late, or even just hello,” Nothing. Now she cannot get the lift to work. I contemplate taking Anna back in since it’s very cold, but I wait as she radio’s for help. She still has not spoken to me. She gets the lift down. I say to her, “You’re going to have to help roll her chair on.” She says nothing. Then since she is not locking it I reach down, she bends her head at the same time. Anna’s toy smacks her face. I say sorry, but I really think this might be karma at its best. I unlock the brake and Anna wheels inside the bus.
I come inside and I call transportation. I tell her that I cannot ever have Anna picked up by this person again. I’ll be honest, I reference “Dumb and dumber.” She thanked me and we hung up. She calls back and says Anna is going to be brought home by her. I tell her this last trip home is okay, after all it will be daylight and maybe she will remember where we live. Now it’s 7 am, a full half hour past her normal pick up time, no time for workout, I lost that with the bus incident, now to get ready for work.
I text her nurse to let her know that Anna will be late, and tell her the bus driver has no idea what she is doing. Her nurse says that they are wondering where the bus is. She texts me back in about 15 minutes that they saw the bus, but she PASSED THE SCHOOL. Wow. Bus blues for everyone. Boy do we Warriors appreciate our regular competent, friendly and wonderful people who transport our children.
On a wonderful and excellent note, Lily is home from the hospital. It was way too long, but nobody can control this for us Warriors. It’s the life the family lives when our children cannot ever tell us what is happening. It’s searching and hoping and finding or not finding things. I’m so thrilled they are not living at the hospital anymore. I’m happy she can roll and play on the floor. Thank you all for your prayers and hoping and crossing your fingers with me. We hope to see Lily and her family soon. Life is good, and better at home.
So happy your sweet little friend is home. Sending healing prayers to your bus driver. Sounds like a lovely person who cares about the kids that they drive. Hope they are back soon!