Preparing for "Back to School"

Every summer right before school starts, I try to take a beach trip. This is my way of mentally preparing myself for the next nine months of the unknown! As I sit here in the salty air and sunshine, I think about what to expect on the first day of school. This year is going to be a little different you see... we usually have a crew / inservice meeting about a week before school starts. This meeting is a mandatory meeting and it gives us an opportunity to put stuff back in our buses like brooms, paper work,..etc. Plus they tell  us all or any changes that where made  or new expectations of us as drivers. We will meet the new sub drivers, which we all check out and take bets on how long they will last ..... just like the new kids in the classroom. (LOL)

 Yet this day is just like the first day of school for the bus drivers. On that day we would act just like the kids do on the first day of school, since this is the first time we have seen each other since the last day of the school year. So you have some people that dress in their best “back to School” clothes, some that can’t wait to tell you all about their summer, then there those who just act like you saw them yesterday. We all go around chatting, laughing and sharing until the boss comes in and makes all sit down and be quiet ... just like a teacher in a class room. 

Ok  now back to my pre-first day thoughts or more like physic visions....The first day of school is exciting to me for a few reasons. I look forward to seeing the kids after the summer break with all the new tans, freckles, clothes, backpacks and hair cuts.  There will be the same old faces but there will be new ones also. It will be at this time that I will find out who moved over the summer... then I get a little sad since i didn’t get to say good bye. 

Once I get to the school, just like the kids we find out what teachers are still there, which ones have left and see some new faces as well. 

You see the first day of school is just as exciting for us as it is the students! 

So from here on end I will be blogging about actual events that happen in my day and life as a school bus driver...hold on this is going to get interesting!!!

30 days and counting

Well, I have 30 days left of my summer vacation before I get behind the wheel of the yellow cheese wagon. As the next school year approaches I think back at all the things the kids on my bus have told me...now one thing you have to know is that  as kids get on the bus they have a tendency to do what I call " vomit information"  at me as they get on the bus. This is as they are walking up the stairs and before they find their seat. So here are some things that I have heard over the years ... ( warning...I may know private information about your family that you may not know I know)

" my mom wears pink thong underwear"
" that's my dad...he just got out of rehab"

Not so funny one.... " my baby brother passed away from SIDS"

" that is my dad's crack head girlfriend"
" my dad lost his job"
" what is sex?"
" we are moving because my dad's business partner is a "Bleep"!
 "my mom got a new belly button and bigger boobs"

Now most of these come from elementary kids...the stuff I hear from my high school students are a little more shocking and I don't think I want to repeat. Yet there are times that they don't realize that the 40 ft metal can on wheels echo's and I can hear quite a bit from where I sit. There have been a couple of times I have had to come home and ask my own teenagers what something meant or was...then I get really shocked..LOL!

So just remember that people who are strangers to you but not your children....May know a little more about you than you think :)

Where is Waldo?

I live in a county that is populated at about 245,3000 people. You would think that is a lot but in reality it isn't. Have you ever heard about the "6 degrees of separation"? well we joke that that here in our county there is only  "2 degrees of separation"...it seems that everyone know someone that you know. With that said, can you imagine what it is like when you go to a parade or fair in the county? I do what I call "Where's Waldo?". When I attend a parade I am not there to see the floats or marching bands....NO~! I am there to scan the crowds and parades for all the kids that I have transported on my school bus over the years. I love seeing them way at the all the people sitting on the sidewalks as they walk in the parade routes. Just last week at the 4th of July I say 10 kids that ride my bus  in the parade. But my Favorite part is when I see them walking with their parents and siblings towards me. Because I do something that just cracks me up!....so picture this....You are having a great sunny day with your family at the fair or parade. As you are strolling you have this women come up to your child, and she starts asking questions like " how is your summer going? Are you done playing soccer? Who will be your teacher next year? ect.." The look on these parents faces is priceless...it is a mixture or Who is this? How do they know my child and all these details? Should I be worried? is this a "stranger danger" situation? ..LOL! Then I introduce myself and the sign of relief in their face is awesome!!!  


On the other side of the coin is the  look on child's face as well.  I swear the kids don't recognized you on the street unless you have this great big yellow thing wrapped around you. Plus I think they believe that we don't live outside of our buses and have real lives / families. so the look of puzzlement is a bonus.


So when school starts in the fall and the kids  are getting back on the bus the first thing they say is " I saw you at the parade/fair this summer!" .....I just smile and reply "yes, you did!"

The purpose of this blog

After driving school bus for 10 years I have shared many fun, sad and interesting stories with friends & family. Many have said that they should make a sitcom out of this topic, like they did with the show "TAXI" from years ago.

You see, no two days are a like.  When you deal with parents, other bus drives, teachers, other drivers on the roads....then add 70 students to that!

This blog will cover all the different personalities that I experience every single day. right now it is summer break. People always wonder what school bus drivers do during the summers. The first day of summer break...we CELEBRATE!!!!! it is not that we don't love our jobs for the nine months that we do them during the school year. It is just that you alway look forward to the end...you know like the end of the book, movie or the bottom of chip bag & glass. We are what you call pro-rated...this is when they take the number of the school days and the amount that we get paid per day...then spread it over 12 months. So even if our yellow cheese wagons aren't running around town stopping traffic every 20 yards...we are  enjoying our summers like school children!

For myself and a few of my co-worker, we joke about having another child instead there goes another year. since our years are only 9 months long and so is a pregnancy, we like to name every year. This year was the year of Chaos!  We had one of our drivers get arrested this year, which really shook up our little family. and that is what we are.... family! We take care of each other when we get hurt, lose a loved one and down on our luck.

We have so many different personalities and age ranges...for instance, I am the second youngest driver in our fleet and I have been here for 10 years. I have seen people come, leave for other adventures and even pass away.

I have watched children, their siblings and parents grow over  10 the years I have been here. many of them don't recognize me outside of the big yellow cheese wagon but once they do I get a ton of hugs, hand shakes and thanks you's ......this is one of the reasons I love my job!

I hope you will enjoy my short blogs about this "Life as a school bus driver"!