Timing

So I'm paranoid and pick the kids up from the bus stop every day. It's not even a block. It's three houses. But around here, three houses seems like a long way.

When we lived in the suburbs, the kids played only in the backyard, because we lived on a pretty busy street. The cars flew down our street (and we had a school right across from us!) We had one of those speed capture things on our street practically once a month. Cops pulled people over all the time for speeding. But people still did it anyway.

Out here, though, while we have less vehicles, people actually go FASTER. Less traffic, more speed. They also don't stop at stop signs. Especially at night. They turn off their lights as they're coming to a stop sign, and if they don't see lights coming the other way? Well, they just keep going!

But even during the day, they go fast. And don't like to stop. And everyone out here owns a truck. So we're not talking little cars. These are BIG cars. One of these meets a five year old in the middle of an intersection, and it's just over.

In fact, enormous farm vehicles go down our street at least once a day. And when I say enormous... I mean, like, bigger than elephants. Like two elephants, maybe. I don't even know what these things are and definitely don't know what they do. I just know they're big, they're loud, and they go pretty darned fast for being so huge!

There's no sidewalks, the dirt roads are narrow, and I worry about the little ones making it home without going into the road. So I drive three houses down to the stop sign at the corner to pick them up. I know, how pathetic is that? I don't even walk... I DRIVE! I walked the first day, thinking I would teach them to walk home... but when Dmitri ran across the street to pet the neighbor's dog and Zoe tripped over a tree branch and fell into the road, I decided it wasn't the best idea in the world to let them walk yet.

The second day, though, Michael picked them up (I had a migraine and he happened to be home) and he drove down to the corner. The lightbulb went off in my head... hey! What a good idea! Granted, a lazy idea... but I'm all for lazy! So now I drive.

Only I never know when the bus is going to come for sure. They said at the school office the bus would be by at 3:30 p.m. But I waited and waited and they didn't show up until almost four! After a week of waiting there starting at 3:30 and waiting at least until 3:45 p.m. for the bus to show up, I finally started leaving later and getting there around 3:40. That seemed to work just fine.

Except the time, last week, when they called just as I was walking out the door to say, "The bus is waiting at the corner."

Wow. Now that's service. Boy, was my face red!

So yesterday, I pulled up and the bus was waiting there. At 3:40. Damn. My time gauge was clearly not working. So today, I left just a little bit earlier. When I pulled out into the road, I saw a bus in my rearview mirror. Which I thought was weird... because no school busses go down our road that I've ever seen? When I pulled over, the bus pulled up next to my van and sure enough... it was the kids' bus.

"We didn't have anyone else to drop off today," the bus driver said, pointing to the cross street. "So I was going to drop them in front of your house."

Doh! If I'd just waited a few more minutes! And... hey! They couldn't have called? What happened to that service?!

So I drove home (three whole houses) and stopped to pick up the mail (still in my car... I know I know, how lazy AM I, right?) where I found the second notice that the post office had attempted to deliver a package, registered mail from India (it's from Bookmooch) but I "wasn't home to accept it."

What!?!?

The ONLY time I left the house was the time it took to drive three houses away to pick up the kids from school! HOW could I have missed the postal carrier!? I didn't see the postal truck pass me, coming or going. (Out here, it's a red Ford F150 with an orange flag on the antennae. No, I'm not kidding.)

Out here, when there's a package, the postal carrier drives her truck up our driveway... and honks. She waits until I come out (so she doesn't have to get out of the truck... see, everyone out here is just as lazy as I am!) and then hands me the package and the rest of my mail. But I didn't hear anyone honk today?

The only thing I can imagine happened is she dropped off the mail and the notice in the scarce five minutes that I was down at the corner ushering kids into the car? Or... she shunted into another dimension to deliver the mail? Either way, the timing today just sucked!