1st day tales

You know what's NOT AWESOME about the first day of school?

When your husband goes to pick up kids from the bus stop and calls to say--our second grader wasn't on the bus, nor was our kindergarten niece that we are in charge of. And adds that another kid on the bus says that she got on the wrong bus.


. . .. um . . . .what?

***commence slightly panicked phone call to school**

"Hi, school, we are missing two of our children (insert name and description)"

I hear from my end of the phone . . "are (insert children's name) here?"

"Yes, we have your niece here, but your second grader is not here."

then nothing, no questions nothing.

me: "Well, she was supposed to get on the red bus and she never did, another child from her bus said that she might have gotten on the yellow bus."

them:"Well--I will call the drivers and then call you back--what is your number?"

Husband comes home and drops off the oldest child--then sets out to school to retrieve niece and get info on second grader.

School calls me back and says that they have called the buses, and they haven't called back yet. And that is all that she says.

Hyrum gets to school and calls me every 5 minutes or so with updates saying that they haven't found her, and that the bus drivers aren't answering their radios.

. . . um---try not to panic, try not to panic . . ok panicking---

You see, if it was my fourth grader, I wouldn't be so worried--she's the oldest child, and she is very aware and grounded. If she were lost at age 7 I would have not been panicking as much--because she is one to walk up to the bus driver and say--I'm on the wrong bus--but this never happened with her--due to her awareness, she never got on the wrong bus.

But this is my second child. She is the one who used to put her clothes on backwards for the first 4 years of her life--even jeans. Oh and her shoes on the wrong feet. She isn't aware of anything---a giant wildabeast could sit next to her at church and I doubt she would notice. All of last year I feared that she wouldn't get off the bus at the right bus stop--so I went to the bus stop every day--or had my friend check everyday--so that I knew she got off. And last year . . . nothing. I only wish that she has just missed this stop--and stayed on this bus, because I know all of the other stops on it's route--just in case she doesn't get off.

But--she never got ON the bus.

And I'm near expletives--why the *********** did the second grade teacher not make sure that she got on her bus???? She's 7!!!!!!

That is answered later--when my husband asks, and they inform him that they do make sure kids on the bus . . . in Kindergarten and First grade. Apparently 7 year olds are capable of doing it themselves.

um . . . or NOT. Well, not MY 7 year old.

I then call my friend whose kids are at the same bus stop, "Hey, Julia, (and then the voice crack and tears roll) what do your kids know about where she might be?" I explain how I'm trying to hold it together, but I'm starting to panic.

So, I say a prayer with my other two kids--that she is safe and not scared.

In retrosepct, I should have said a prayer that I wouldn't panic. Because I AM panicking.

My friend shows up and takes my other kids so I can go look for her.

Because remember--she's that kid that isn't level headed. So I imagine her getting off the bus at the first stop--because her normal bus top is the very first stop on her route.

I get the cross streets of the yellow bus route's 1st stop. I have to google it and look and look, because it's within a neighborhood.

And yikes--it's in the hood. Like hood hood. But luckily, I am close-that stop is about 1/2 a mile away.

Hyrum calls--he has talked to the teacher--Josie got on the bus with her friend Rachel that she said was on the bus with her last year. PROBLEM---there is NO Rachel on her bus. And the office says that they still haven't heard anything.

***we are nearing 45 minutes at this point***

So I jump in the burb and haul butt--driving around that neighborhood.

My thoughts during this:

If she DID get off, then hopefully a mother at the bus stop would notice she wasn't at the right stop and call the school

I'm sure this happens every year, it's no big deal, she's fine

If she is with some friend named Rachel--then her mom will call the school. Then I think--that mom might have last year's school list--with my home phone number, maybe I should go home.

But what if she gets off somewhere and no one notices--and no one finds her--what is the next step . . . police? Then I try to calm myself with the thought that I have never seen a missing persons report on the news--due to the first day of school and busing issues.

But what if?

***phone rings**

It's my husband, "I have her (I can hear muffled crying in the background) she's crying and so scared."

So I cry--because I am so relieved.

And I go to pick up my kids from my friend's house, and I get a text from her:

"Out looking for Josie, text me when you have news"

Now that is a good friend.

So I call her--and she brings my kids home, and just then Josie gets home--gets out of the car and jumps into my arms and just sobs. And I wipe away a few tears of my own.

And she tells me her story.

She thought she was on the yellow bus--because her little Kindergarten sister is on the yellow bus--and that's true--she's half day and rides the Yellow bus HOME from school and gets dropped off at my front door. But she rides the red bus TO school.

I am just glad we knew to check that bus.

So turns out, once she was on and got going--she realized it was the wrong bus and was so scared. But a friend of my fourth grader was on that bus--and sat with her, and told the bus driver that she was on the wrong bus. So she just stayed on until they came back.

My husband tells me about how he was about to lose it on the school staff--because he is running around the school trying to get information--and when he comes back in to the office to check--they act like they have never seen him before, and are calm as anything "we haven't heard back yet from any of the buses". Then after he goes and talks to the teacher--as he is going back to the office--he sees her get off the bus.

But seriously school staff---why the frick aren't your bus people answering calls? Why didn't that bus driver call in and say that he had a stray? 45 minutes a 7 year old was unaccounted for--and you are calm?

That makes me want to punch them in the face.

So the moral of the story is---if your kids haven't started school yet, and they ride the bus--take some time to go over these things:

#1 Know their bus--and make sure that they don't confuse it with another

#2 Tell them not to get off a bus if they get on the wrong one

#3 Tell them to tell the bus driver IMMEDIATELY if they have gotten on the wrong bus

#4 Tell them that if they ever find themselves somewhere they don't know (in case they did get off the bus) to tell a mom that they are lost

#5 Make sure they know your cell number (she knows our home number--but no one was home if she did try to call.


Well--that was quiet a first day of school tale, now wasn't it?