The wheels on the bus

When I was a kid, we lived out in the country. Like most things in life, it had its pros and its cons. One of the negatives was that my brothers and I had to get up early to be ready in time for the school bus and the 25 minute drive to school. My brothers were older and went to a different school so their bus came after mine, and in time they were able to drive themselves. On my own, I always seemed to be running late and would have to run to get to my bus to be on time.

When I finally got on the bus and caught my breath, I tended to sit near the back. I would slouch low in my seat with my knees up against the seat in front of me. Of course, there were no seat belts. This was years from seat belts being a law. The drive was generally a borefest with one exception. You could count on the school bus driver hitting at least one huge pothole each trip, jerking you high up in the air.

The long parade of buses

I’m always amazed now by the number of kids I see in my area who are driven or drive to school. Yes, back in my day, some kids were driven to school and, when we were older, some kids had cars. You could always tell who saved up on and bought a car on their own and who was driving daddy’s sports car. However, the number of kids driving today is definitely higher. Significantly higher. You can see them one after another, like ants in a row, making their way to school.

People always talk about how they hated the bus. When I was in elementary school, I loved the bus. I loved it for a myriad of reasons: I could catch up a few minutes of sleep; I could get myself ready for my day, I was a voracious reader and could use the time to read; and I could day dream.

The makings of a writer

I credit those day dreams on the school bus with helping me become a writer. As crazy as it sounds, I found that those day dreams could help me brainstorm and create and think how I was going to write something, so when I was in front of a pen and paper, or later, in front of a lap top, I could turn those thoughts into something concrete on the page.

Oh, by the time high school came along, I came to hate the bus too like everyone else and rarely took the bus home, staying after school for various sports and after-school activities, but I still have good memories of the big yellow school bus and my early years of school.

Yes, those wheels on the bus do go round and round, just watch out for the big bumps in the road!