.... A BUS....

I did not have a pleasant, "View From A Bus ", today!! I am known by my children to be VERY easy going. A direct result of growing up with a father who wasn't!!  Having said that, I am at the bus stop with Savannah. We love going to the library. In fact, we're regular "bookies". En route to the library we often chat and , on occasion, it turns to discussion of the kind of house we plan to have one day. One large enough that the one bedroom we have will not have to be turned over as a storage unit. One large enough to have a kitchen we don't have to turn sideways in in order to pass each other. One with a family room large enough to BUILD a huge bookshelf in!! OR, we see us in a library that we've built ourselves, {like the public library}, that is built with a large apartment above which we live in and simply go downstairs everyday and make use of our very own, " just-like-the- public-library-without-the-public " library!! Honestly, I wanted to stay home today as I fight through some health issues, one of which is chronic fatigue. But when I look into her young, hopeful, happy face, I know that there is no sacrifice I wouldn't make for her. It's hard for young, healthy people, with their entire life ahead of them to really understand what persistent health problems feel like as they have none. I always look good on the outside, making sure I dress nice and apply makeup, etc. No one could have a clue!! We spend our afternoon there and walk through the pleasant, pretty town that is Tacoma. We decide to go ahead and splurge by eating out. Savannah & I have a great personality blend and thoroughly enjoy each others company!! Everything has been ideal all day. As we leave the restaurant, Savannah stops   at the 50 cent candy machine at the door as I impatiently tell her if we don't get the lead out, we're not only going to miss the bus, but lose the use of our transfers!! She's trying to get the machine to cooperate & it's being stubborn at exactly the wrong time!! SO.... we finally head out onto the sidewalk in the strip-mall, juggling our bags of books, purses, to-go boxes and a few items we needed from "Dollar Tree". We are reduced to jay-walking in order to be "time effective" and we're at a dead trot, when lo and behold, we see the #33 careening to a stop!! Somehow, with mere seconds to spare, Savannah captures the bus drivers attention. He stops, I'm bringing up the rear, I get to the doors of the bus and driver puts his foot to the gas pedal!! I yell out, "HEY"!!!!.... He puts his foot on the break, leaves the door shut & stares at me through the doors!! He seemingly, somewhat reluctantly opens them, glaring, {guess he'd had a bad day},as I breathlessly say, "I'm her mom"!! He wordlessly stares, nods as he glances at the transfer and I find a seat. My daughter KNOWS I am ticked!! I said," Savannah!! Didn't you even ask him to hold the bus for me"?? She says,"Sorry mom"!! I was on a time frame to meet some customers at our apt. who were buying one of our kittens. I take a few minutes to "cool-out" as I was NOT a happy camper!! $40.00 per kitten was$40.00 per kitten which, at the time, was helpful to pay bills. Don't worry, we "screen" all potential buyers to ensure our babies receive the very best possible homes. It is always made clear if things aren't working well, the babies are to be returned to us. So I'm trying to not jump Savannah anymore. After all, it wasn't HER fault the candy machine was being stubborn!! She also has an ultra-sensitive spirit like her momma used to have. So I throw up an "arrow prayer" that I won't miss these potential buyers & simmer down. The couple I interviewed on my cell seemed like hopefuls from my perspective. The young mans wife had to leave her beloved kitty in Chile when moving to the states. She chose an "orange & cream " tabby male that most resembled him. I believe he's the one my girl & I named, "Willy". He was the runt. As we round the last corner home, I notice an economy-sized car in one of the parking spaces. Whoever says God doesn't answer prayer, simply doesn't know.... sure enough, it was them!! For story's sake, we'll call them Benita & Thomas. The old saying is,"the proof is in the puddin' ". One "proof" they were the right family was the fact they waited nearly 30 minutes for us to get home!! The second "proof " I noticed was their apparent Love for one another. They were  honey-mooners. Hopefully they will always be. He was as fair as she was dark , she as gentle in manner as he a tad gruff. She sat on the floor, gleefully observing the kittens play. Thankfully, Savannah had some sort of memory for telling them all apart as several looked like twins. Benita & Thomas spent a good 30 min. getting familiar with their new family member. By the time they were ready to go, they chose 2!! {So Willy wouldn't get lonely}. Whoever thinks tithing is nothing but a rip-off scam....just doesn't know. The $20.00 my girl felt compelled to put in the offering plate Sunday, just turned to $80.00!! We can surely never "out-give" God!! He doesn't roll like that. As we sadly yet gratefully give our 2 boys a last kiss good-bye & congratulate the newly married couple on their marriage and latest additions to their family, I realized how many memories had flooded my mind in those last 30 minutes. The beauty of youth.  Remembering what it was like believing in that kind of Love. Understanding the foreign feeling of being the "new kid on the block", living in a new culture. Anticipation with high hopes. I apologize to Savannah for treating her harshly & impatiently. She sweetly says, "That's O.k. momma", as is her way. I hug her tight & thank the Lord for the beautiful blessing that are my children, grandchildren & ALL Gods. creatures great & small. There's just one thing I have to work at being grateful for..............bus 
drivers.

A Bus

                                 Blog post of " A View From A Bus " By :Midnightwriter                                           I am transitting on the Pierce County bus headed for Tacoma Community College where I am presently enrolled in adult evening classes for GED. It's a thirty minute ride with frequent stops. The trip is quite scenic and calming. Washington is a breathtakingly beautiful state. Reason being, it rains 234 days per year here. Honestly?? That seriously sucks!! Savannah and I have lived here 2 1/2 years now . We hate that part. But there is not a more ideal state in America in the summer time!! Lush and abundant trees and flowers as I have never seen in my life. Wright Park, which has grafted trees from ALL over the world. Brazil, West Indies, Africa , to name a few. Also what I call, "flower trees" as in the Spring and Fall time, some trees here hold not one leaf but a virtual cascade of flowers that also blanket the surrounding sidewalk. It looks like it is quite literally raining flowers when the gentle breezes begin to blow, lightly grasping the petals in it's invisible wayward grip and lowering them softly to the ground. To walk past that particular tree and area of neighborhood is as if one has entered a brief , pink dream. The color of bubblegum!! A little "Alice and Wonderland-ish ". It's delightful!! From my native roots of  beautiful, sunny California, to 18 years in the middle of the midwest, to here. Every state has it's own special wonders and sights, as well as potential, threatening national disasters. Washington has the one and only Mt. Rainier. That takes your breath away. Savannah and her older sister, Rachel, actually climbed Mt. Si!! Those adventurous, "live like you were dyin' ", girls of mine!! They are beyond words amazing, fearless and wonderful!! I'm actually surprised they haven't been inspired to climb Mt. Rainier yet. No adventure too challenging for these young women of mine. They have two brothers who are just as outrageous!! So many thoughts flood my mind as I experience this view from a bus. At 52 years old, I have a great sense of my own mortality and reflect upon the fleetingness of life....."merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream....as the old childrens song goes! So, so true. Scarily true. Where is the evidence my young life existed?? Hidden in the darkness of my parents upstairs closet on reel to reel film. Scads of reels!! Photo albums too!! And in my own soul and spirit. There are those who are living witnesses to the fact I lived a half century ago in the "Golden State of California". In spite of bona-fide evidence; hard , cold facts, it still feels more evidentiary to believe the words to, " Row, Row, Row Your Boat ". My feet have trod many a lake road, national park, beach, country, desert and flat land and I suppose my own daily in and out-take of air proves the truth. I am here. It is now. my present, which is a gift and miracle. My yesterdays I successfully survived, my future as yet unknown as we are only given today. As the steady hum of the Pierce county bus air conditioner breaks my reverie, I notice the college campus looming before me and think of why I'm here at my age, in this state,on this bus. But that is a story for next time.

View From a Bus

View From a Bus

            Savannah and I are two years and four months into our bus adventures.

            If I haven’t mentioned it, we are viewing the world from the Pierce County Transit now in Tacoma, WA. Beautiful, sunny California turned out to be just a space of time between events.

            Savannah, now almost seventeen, has seen more views from a school bus than we have from public transit in the last five months.

            Today, however, as the common gloomy skies that make up Washington decided to share with us a “fair” day, we made the most of it.

            Out here, there is cause for major excitement when the weather man declares we will experience any weather 50° F and above. And believe me, one learns to appreciate a day when you don’t have to turn on a lamp in the daytime or spend twenty minutes layering clothes to take the garbage out.

            So we walk to church to begin our Sunday as we always do. That is always a most awesome start! Afterwards, as Valentine’s Day is just over a week away, we decide to bus to Wal-Mart and see what varieties of delectable items we could purchase for those we love. We are selective when it comes to our loved ones, but when it comes to chocolate, we don’t discriminate.

            Being Sunday there were only a scattered few passengers on the bus. I was immediately drawn to a diminutive, dejected looking fellow. Probably only in his thirties looking more in his fifties by the harsh, craggy lines creasing his face, his ski cap pulled firmly down low enough as not to detect if there was a head of hair under it or not. His beige jacket securely zipped up to chin level, arms enclosing himself and legs crossed so tight that it gave away how thin he was under the jacket. His ankles, bare above his socks, almost as delicate and slender as a woman’s.

            As the bus calmly careened down the non-trafficked Tacoma Street, he kept his gaze focused out the window, seeming as though being that close to other humans caused him discomfort.

            I had been cloaked in a shroud of peace all day, which his apparent sadness penetrated. It had not the power to eliminate my peace, yet seeped into its circle as fog enshrouds an otherwise undisturbed clearness.

            I felt a pull to go to him. What could I give? A soul with such profound aloneness, maybe composed throughout a lifetime, can be virtually impossible to reach, even bring a smile to. Money can bring a smile to the face of most people, though I had none to share. A word of encouragement I could not conjure. Even to say, “Hey, everything will be okay,” would probably sound trite. I am not one intimidated by approaching anybody and will never be found with a loss of words, so I hate to confess that I remained on my side of the bus.

            When he too quietly asked the bus driver how close they may be to a hospital, he sounded like a small boy and his request went unheard. I quickly repeated it louder for him. The annoyed bus driver glanced in her rearview mirror and answered him. He offered profuse thanks to the hard-faced woman.

            The compassion in my heart was great and left me with that deepened sense of gratitude that humbles my too often grumbling mind. We have so much, even in our worst case scenarios. It is hard to say if the man was homeless, without family, money, friends. It seemed that way.

Having said that, in the end I offered him my very best, for in my heart I said, “Lord, please take care of your son. You know his heart, you made him. You know what he needs and more for you know all things. Bless him Lord, and keep him close. Amen.” When I looked over again, he was gone and our own destination was close. I was reminded of my favorite verse, “Always be kind to strangers, lest you be entertaining angels unaware.”