Bus Phobia and Brick Walls

I have a phobia about missing buses.

It all started in first grade. I was out on the front porch waiting for the big bus to pull up at the end of our driveway. I saw the bus coming down the road. I saw the bus go right past our farm. The bus driver had completely forgotten to pick me up. In my world this was devastating. My mom had to drive me to school, I cried the whole way, and even though she explained again and again that I was not at fault, the bus just forgot me, forevermore I was filled with a fear of missing buses.

In high school and in middle school, I was always at least 20 minutes early for any activity that involved boarding a bus because I didn't want to take any chance that I might miss the bus. My stomach would knot up with the thought of the bus rolling by without me. On choir tour in college I was always one of the first people to get back on the bus every time the bus stopped. When our choir was in Europe I made detailed mental maps of exactly where I was. There was perhaps nothing that made me more anxious than being lost in a foreign country AND missing the bus.

So on Friday I was on my way to catch a bus for a choir trip to Iola WI. And I was running late (two children can do that to you). After dropping both critters off at my friend's house (she was watching them until Dr. Pediatrician could pick them up after work) I hopped in my car and backed down her long winding driveway and slammed right into her brick retaining wall. Because I was late for the bus, I didn't even stop to check things out . . . I just kept driving past the damaged retaining wall to the parking lot where I had to meet the bus.

Later I called to apologize, and she laughed and laughed. The brick wall is fixable, and the car isn't even scratched. And I managed to board the bus with time to spare, which is good, since I don't really know where Iola WI is anyway.