Driving a school bus

I've been driving a school bus for several years now. Ask me 20 years ago and I'd never have dreamed I'd be driving a school bus, in fact, 20 years ago I thought I'd be a successful doctor by now. I wanted to be either a pediatrician or an obstetrician. Things change. Ask me 15 years ago, I had recently graduated high school and was taking my general ed classes and working my way through college in a restaurant... I hung up the doctor idea when I realized how expensive school was and I decided I could be a teacher. Things change. I got promoted in my restaurant job and ended up becoming a General Manager. Ask me 10 years ago and I would have thought I'd be up that restaurant ladder by now. Things change. Shoot, ask me 5 years ago and I still wouldn't have said school bus driver, not in a million years. But, things change...

Years ago, we moved across country, I had a great job that I LOVED and made decent money working. My husband had a good paying job and our bills were paid. We had a super cute house, we both drove a nice vehicle, and I even had me a totally fun second job, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. After several years, my husband brought up moving back "home" and I gave in...

So we had a moving sale, packed up, and moved "home". He got a job in the same capacity as the job he had left, I was not as lucky. Nothing could be found. The job I loved was gone, there was nothing even remotely similar that I could do in our new home so I hit the help wanted ads. There it was, in black and white, school bus drivers wanted please call xxx-xxxx, so I did. The man that answered the phone spoke in a very monotone voice, I am pretty upbeat and it was hard to keep up with that voice. He said do you have experience driving a school bus... um no. No problem, do you have a CDL... um no. Do you think you can get one... sure. Ok, do you at least have a Michigan drivers license... um no, but I do have one from another state. Ok, we can work with that - here's what you need to do... 6 weeks later I was behind the wheel of a school bus on the first day of school, likely more anxious than any single kid waiting for me that day. I had only driven a bus several times during training, but I did it well. It was my first day on the job, my first day driving with kids actually on the bus, it was morning, it was dark, and I was nervous as all hell.

That was 4 years ago, and I'm still driving, and I love it. I'm going to reflect on some of the stories from the previous years as well as a daily/weekly journal of sorts of the happenings from my days as a school bus driver. Enjoy.