riding the bus

My friend was telling me about her little boy who is only five. He goes to kindergarten and boy do they have a serious schedule. Not only do they attend school from 7:30 to 2:00, they have lots and lots of homework. Not necessarily a bad thing but it reminded me of a story of my own.

When my kids were in pre-school, i was already a single mom, working at a restaurant in walking distance from my house. At this venture in my life, i had to get on welfare to make ends meet. The kids went to a pre-school that would accept the government provision so i was forced to take them to a school that was very far away.

I used to wake up at 5:00 am, get the kids dressed, get myself dressed and catch a bus to take the kids to school. My job was in walking distance from my house but it took us one hour from home to get the kids to school. I would drop them off, get back on the bus and ride another one hour back to work that was only five minutes away from home. Then after work i would get on that bus, travel for one hour to pick my kids up, get back on the bus for another hour to get home.

So i spent four hours on a bus just to get my kids to this school. There were schools closer to my house but they did not accept the welfare yada yada stuff.

One day coming home from the school, the kids and i got off at a transfer point downtown. While we were waiting for the bus, I heard a rattling noise, metal hitting metal. When i turned around, this homeless guy was breaking into the newspaper stand. He took the money and walked away. Nobody did anything. Rough part of town. I wasn't about to jeopardize the safety of my kids to try to stop this guy over a few quarters. Those years were difficult and kind of scary all the way around.