the school bus.

what a novel idea! now that i live in a country where kids take trains and public taxis to school, or their own two feet, i can see what a profound invention the school bus is. i vividly remember my daily routine of walking out to the edge of my driveway, with a tiny bit of anxiety pulsing through my veins keeping me warm amidst the cool morning air. I lived near the t-junction, and i could always hear the bus before i could see it. eventually it would come cruising to a stop and ease into the right turn towards my house. I dont know why I thought the bus would drive right past me, but sometimes I would feel a bit of fear that this would happen. It was amazing to leave the quiet, familiar world of family and home, and ascend the steps of the bus into a mobile world of chaos and chatter.

My bus driver was Mr Nash. I got his autograph once. He was quite a hero in my little world. He knew how to drive this big bus, he knew where all us children lived, and he never failed to get me to school. When I got my Hello Kitty autograph book one year, he was one of the first names in it. I think I even thought he had a part in creating Nashville. He was Mr. "Nash" after all. A jolly old man.

Did you know that it took a large committee of New Yorkers 7 whole days to design the school bus, and create the color known as "school bus yellow"...how creative! North America is known for its use of the school bus, and I'm really thankful to have been one of the lucky kids whose world involved the experience of it. Maneuvering the social drama and pressures that the school bus culture brought with it, I think it taught me a bit about life. Maybe I'm a bit less afraid of independence, of walking into the unknown, because of the school bus.

Here's some pictures I took of school buses at my old elementary school, Lipscomb Elementary. The school has been torn down and rebuilt, bearing no resemblance to what I knew and loved it to be. But I suppose that's life. Things change, improve, grow.

But not the school bus. Cheers to one constant in the ever-evolving drama of a child's tender life!








Comments

  1. StacieOctober 25, 2011 at 5:37 AM

    i never rode the bus. well, except on field trips. and band trips. those were the days. they are a pretty smart invention. i wonder why no one else uses them... thanks for sharing and the insight. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 13, 2011 at 7:48 PM

    Since my last post (profound and lengthy) never "stuck" when I tried to post it, I will keep this brief.

    I really liked this. Any insight into the mind/thinking of your child is a great experience...especially when you find kindness and uniqueness. Thanks for writing. Dad

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

another abundance.

1 Corinthians 4.9-13 ..for it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless. When we are persecuted we endure it. When we are slandered we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world… I think I must have fallen asleep during this lesson in Sunday school class. Somehow, I missed this part. Because over the past few years, I have faced some difficult days and for whatever reason, the framework I was using to understand those confusing times wasn’t the one above. I thought hard times were a sign that I...
Read more

Like Mike (And the man at the Pool).

Image
My brother was born with down syndrome. Due to his mental handicap, he perceives the world differently than I do. Things I would never do are no big deal to him. He doesn't have as much of a filter as me. Sometimes thats a great thing, other times it's life-threatening (like the time he thought he was superman and jumped out my bedroom window). But overall, Mike teaches me an incredible amount about my faith. While visiting America this last time, we attended one of his baseball games. Mike walked up to the plate convinced he was going to do something SO BIG that everyone would remember him forever. He picked up that bat, strode to the home plate, pointed out at the pitcher as if to warn her of the pending doom, and then took charge. After a few missed swings, he knocked the ball into the field and somehow managed a home run out of it! With his slow running pace and half the fielders being in wheel chairs, the odds were not necessarily in his favor but he pulled it off :) ...
Read more

visual updates for all you right-brainers...

Image
poem's sisters, all grown up and living in ocean view. L to R: mckayla, melissa, spune. capricorn boys overlooking the burial of one of their own. RIP Mabuti. christmas 2010. the boys played soccer while the girls played shy. crazy people on a crazy elevator. penny and i went to prom as dates. they had a foam machine. this was the state of her feet after five minutes. see next photo for details. the child is bonkers. visiting keaton in prison (the one getting his nose pseudo-picked :) he recently was hit by a car and really struggling. pray for my little man) on my way to simonstown via train. try to blame me for living in south africa :) the old man who lives at beth rapha. me and my little men: leshwin and ryan. penny shot. the child loves her dried meat. (it beats gas station beef jerky any day of the week, american readers). penny's breakfast at the old biscuit mill. no wonder she l...
Read more