“They All Look Alike To Me”

The first week of school comes with red sleepy eyes from getting up early again.  There are tears from those that are frightened because it’s all new or from those that do not want to come back.  The thoughts of “Will the children like me or will they make fun of me and the way I dress.”  All of that is found, in the faculty and staff, the kids for the most part do great.  For the students there are bits of rusty information that have not been used over the summer and now need to be recalled.  As the students were lined up to board the bus after the first day of classes I looked into a face that was familiar but only as a student not as someone that had ridden my bus.  Placing a hand on his little third grade shoulder I said, “Hold on there partner where do you live?”  There was a puzzled look so I rephrased, “What’s your address?”  One eye closed, the nose wrinkled, eyebrows down and you could hear the cogs turning.  He looked at me, “Well,” he started, “I never got around to learning that.”  So knowing we have the same drivers as last year and the same routes I try again.  “Who was your bus driver last year?  Oh, his face lit up and I knew we had hit a home run.  With a smile of confidence he said, “You were!”  Strike two.  “Do you know the road you live on?” I said with a sigh.  “Well I’m not real sure,” he said.  Strike three.  Though he should have been out I walked him…….. to the next bus and asked the driver, who looks nothing like me, and asked him if he recognized the little face.  “Sure,” he said, “he rode my bus all last year.”  You know buses and bus drivers, they all look alike.