Tiny People Getting On Busses

I was on the last leg of my commute to work today.

Last stretch of road before I hook to the right, come to a stop where traffic merges, and then proceed a small bit down the road to the entrance to the plaza on the left where the liquor store is located.

I always flip off the liquor store when I come to a stop after hooking to the right. That spot looks down upon the plaza and affords a direct line of vision to the building where I will spend the next eight hours.

It is immature, I know, but it makes me feel good.

Anyway................I was driving down that last stretch of road and was forced to a stop behind a school bus. There were three cars between me and the bus but I had a clear line of vision to the family drama that caused the bus to stop.

A mom, a dad, and a tiny human were waiting on the porch by the side of the road. When the bus stopped the tiny human walked down off the porch, lunchbox or something quite like it in hand, and boarded the bus.

Took a minute for the bus to move, no doubt waiting for the child to sit. Before it moved, mom was heading back into the house, dad was hanging on the porch.

My impression was that dad is more emotionally invested in the kid than mom, but I could be wrong. Maybe mom had to get back inside to dress for work or make her lunch or sneak a quick shot of tequila.

Anyway...........the bus began to roll and dad stood in place until the window with his kid's face in it rolled by.

He waved energetically; I imagined his kid waving back.

He watched the bus for a moment and then trudged down off the porch, heading to his car, lunch bag in hand.

You know, one of those insulated bags that people take to work today with sandwiches and drinks and snacks in them.

So much fancy stuff. Crazy ass water bottles. Who designs these things? These ridiculous water bottles that everybody has to tote around these days.

I bring a sandwich and two plastic bottles of water to work every day in a plastic Shaw's shopping bag.

Apparently I am old school.

Anyway.............dad was climbing into his car as I drove by.

I could go on one of my typical rants about the pain of working for a living or about the bullshit that passes for education today along with the vicious need to destroy creativity and independence in children.

But I won't.

That scene seemed so pure to me.

A mom and dad on a sunny, unseasonably warm February day, waiting for the school bus with their kid, watching the kid board the bus (except for mom), waving goodbye and heading off to work.

I imagined tonight around the dinner table. Mom, dad, the kid, talking family stuff, eating a family meal, hopefully laughing a little bit, living their lives together in their own tiny, private world.

Kicking back a bit before the whole scenario repeats tomorrow.

This is not a bad thing.

This is how people find peace and love and release from the world in small doses on a daily basis.

This is called survival.