I was actually making good time as I was driving from work to home. Daily it’s been touch and go as to who winds up at the apartments first; Jonathon’s bus, or me. Today I knew factually that it’d be me- I made it with minutes to spare!
With the rain beginning to pour down, I divided my waiting time between the living room and the carport, constantly keeping an ear and eye out for the bus that should arrive any second. As five minutes passed the mark in which the boy was to be safely delivered to me, I questioned whether or not a new bus driver passed on through in the split second I wasn’t sheltered under the carport and left with my treasured child. I dismissed that quickly as it was a silly thought, but the idea of a sub driver did remain a solid theory to explain the tardiness. His normal bus driver was always punctual (or early) and there was no way she’d be late unless something happened.
The sub bus driver sounding more and more realistic was due to that very morning Jonathon and I waited together for fifteen minutes in the morning air as a sub driver altered our morning routine and tested my patience. This afternoon and once it was ten minutes past the time, my patience was growing increasingly thin.
I ran back to my living room so I could glance at the phone that flashes red should someone call and leave a message. There was nothing there. I wondered if perhaps they called my work number if there was an issue- Many times they mistake my work number for my home phone number… and I was curious as to if this was one of those times. I decided to call transportation myself to see what the issue was. I had no dial tone.
The next ten minutes was spent once more jumping from fixing the phone to checking the street- thoughts spiraled from my baby being in an accident or suffering a seizure and no one can get a hold of me…I spotted a police car come into the driveway of the building and my heart froze until he passed on through and back onto the main road… I continued to try my luck with various wires on the phone as a myriad of thoughts flooded through my head until finally… I was able to get through.
As the lady on the other end of the phone was looking up the information I gave her about my son, I heard her tone shift to apologetic, “Actually you were on my list of people to call…” List? What list? Why a list? “there was an accident, Jonathon is fine, the other child is fine and the bus driver is fine.” Accident???? WHAT ACCIDENT??? She kept apologizing for not calling me sooner as it happened over forty minutes earlier. Apparently the bus was rendered undrivable as she described it as “totalled” TOTALLED??????? And another bus was on its way out to get him as he was the last child remaining at that point- the other child, it was his stop. She continued to apologize and truthfully I just wanted her to shut up so I could get off the phone and go wait for my child.
The blood drained from me and all I could think of, knowing that he was okay- but I still wanted to see for myself, was “Is he scared????”
Moments later I hear a confused bus outside seemingly unsure of where it’s supposed to go- I ran towards it with my hands waving in the air, “OVER HERE!!!!!!!!!!”
I quickly opened the wheelchair ramp door, nearly ripping it off it’s hinges and as I deployed the ramp, I heard Jonathons smiling voice, “Mom… I’m OKAY! I’m invincible… remember?”
Word from the bus driver who was actually at scene said the bus wasn’t totalled, they just had to take it back to the barn in case there was hidden damage- the transportation lady on the phone obviously was in need of drama.
From the local paper’s site tonight:
“About 2:50, a bus with two students aboard was involved in a crash with a passenger car at Lancaster and Ward drives NE, said school spokesman Jay Remy.
Students and bus drivers were not injured, Remy said.
Two people were taken to the hospital for observation, Marion County sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Kevin Rau said. “
In related news: Local woman has minor heart attack while waiting for her son’s bus. She is expected to have a full recovery, however, a phone operator at the school’s transportation department wound up missing. Foul play is suspected.
Seriously- with the complications from his operation this past winter that left him without a spine and a weight bearing halo contraption screwed into his skull for a month in Portland, the ambulance trip to the ER during the summer because of his seizure medication going bad from the heat, toss in a seizure while he was eating- prompting him to choke, and then this- he has had move lives than a cat this year alone. And I am beginning to have nerves of steel.
Granted the crash was nothing major, but it still gives a parent that helpless feeling when bad happens. It could have been worse and I’m NOT going to spend my evening thinking about that. It wasn’t worse and he’s OKAY… because as he puts it, he’s “Invincible.”
Thank goodness Jonathon is alright and his superpowers kicked in. Now you get to spend the next few days remembering how to breathe. When our kids are involved there is no such thing as a minor accident.
Wow. Scarry stuff. I am glad Jonathon is alright as well. Now, deep breaths….All is well, all is well…..