Chasing the Bus

It was 6 degrees when I checked the thermometer this morning. You know it’s cold when the snow crunches under your feet and you can feel the icy burn in your lungs when you breathe. After dropping Robert off from school, I came to a stop sign and watched a school bus pass by, white clouds of smoke billowing in its wake. Just as I was about to go, I noticed a middle school kid running behind the bus. He was running – flat out, arms and legs pumping, fast as he could run. I sat there for a moment and watched him run down the street in the frigid weather, marveling to myself. Either he’s going to get in trouble if he is late one more time, he thinks he can actually catch the bus, or he is just running in 6 degree weather for the sheer challenge. I’m guessing it wasn’t the latter. But as I drove to the Camp, I thought about that kid … chasing the bus. (By the way, the school is only a few blocks away from his house.) Sometimes I feel like that kid – running after the bus, hoping desperately that it will stop and I can get on board. I’m tired of running, my legs hurt and my lungs are burning, but I don’t give up. Even if the bus doesn’t stop, I can see the school right over there and I know inside it’s warm and when I get there I can sit and rest.

Perhaps the bus represents a movement. It’s heading in a direction that we desire to go, but for whatever reason, we miss it just by a tiny bit. Things change our focus, preoccupy us, or get us slightly off track. So we miss it. But we have a strong desire to get on board, so, legs and arms pumping, we take off after it.

Anyway… to the kid who was chasing the bus this morning… I hope you got to school on time buddy, and thanks for getting my mind working at the stop sign this morning.