Where's my child?

Well, the day was finally here. The day my son has dreaded since the last day of school in May.....the first day of school in August! For us adults summer just seems to go by in the blink of an eye. But, I do remember when summer time was the most important thing in the world, next to Christmas day of course. Summer was a care free, stay up late, sleep in, relax kind of time. No expectations, no worries and most importantly, no homework. It's the stuff dreams are made of.

This past Monday, August 22, all of that came crashing down for Bubby. Now it's back to bed at 8:30 p.m., homework, tests, rules, etc. He was completely and totally dreading it. He was a little excited. It's always fun to see who you're teacher is and meet your new classmates, but after all that (all of about 10 minutes) the excitement is over. Of course having a brand new $11.2 million school to go back to didn't hurt either. Over the summer his old school was completely demolished and the new school completed. So, that offered a little extra incentive of course.

The past few weeks we've been searching for the perfect backpack and pencil box. Once we found them, the search was on for the mega list of necessary school supplies. We went to at least three different stores to round them all up.

Sunday night he neatly packed everything into his backpack and sat it by the door. He laid out his new "first day of school" outfit which he chose completely on his own. He went to bed with little fussing and dozed off quite fast. However, when I went in Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. to wake him he said, "But, mom, I just went to sleep!" (Over the summer he had gotten use to sleeping until 9:00 a.m. or later.) He did manage to get up with just a little coaxing. I made his requested breakfast of blueberry muffins. He gobbled them up and then we were off. The new school is quite large but we made our way through the maze to his classroom. He found his desk, put his things away and then he shooed me out the door. No kiss, no hug, no nothing! "It's just not cool," he informed me. I left, slightly broken hearted, but doing fairly well......until 3:45 that afternoon. That is when the trauma really started!

I sat at his bus stop anxious to see him, scoop him up and hear about his first day. The bus came and went and Bubby was no where to be seen. I immediately called the school. They would "check on it." Check on it? That's all they have to say to a mother whose child is missing? That wasn't enough for me. I promptly got in my car and drove myself straight to the school. I demanded to know where my child was. Well, they "weren't sure." "This just can't be," I thought. How can they lose a child? I know there are 600+ students to keep up with, but they have lost MY child! After an hour and a half of phone calls, waiting and more phone calls, they finally told me that he had gotten on the wrong bus and that bus was tied up in traffic due to a car wreck. I found out where the accident was, got back in my car and set off to get him. I could just picture him sitting on that bus scared, hot (after 1 1/2 hours on it) and probably hungry. As I was on my way to the accident site I passed a bus. I looked up and saw him standing up pointing to me and mouthing something. I turned around in the middle of the road and stopped behind the bus. The driver had by now put her lights on and the "stop" sign out. I ran up to the bus and there was Bubby. Whew, finally, I'd found him. He was the only child left on the bus. The driver was on her way to take him back to the school so they could call me. I of course insisted that she give him to me right then and there. Although she said she could lose her job for doing so, she could see I was frantic and complied.

So, I know you're wondering, was Bubby okay? Okay? He was ecstatic. He thought it was "so cool" to be the only kid on the entire bus. I asked him if he was scared. His reply? "Nope, I knew you'd find me." I guess I should have been relieved that he had so much faith in me, huh? Needless to say we went right back to the school and found out for sure what bus he was to be on to actually get to our house. Come to find out he'd gotten on the same bus he rode last year, which would be the normal thing to do I thought. However, that bus no longer comes to our development. Well, we found out he's to ride "Mr. Ernie's" bus now, which he was really happy about. The next day, he did make it home safe, sound and on time. He just can't understand what the big deal was and why I was acting so "crazy." He will, in time.....when he has kids of his own.