Nothing has ever been simple for me, not even riding the school bus home when I was a child.

When I was in the first grade, my mom would always pick me up after school. From her car, I would watch my friends board their school buses. Of course, I wanted to do that too. I thought they were having a fun party with no teachers around.

I asked if I could ride the bus home, but my mom didn’t like that idea. She argued that I wouldn’t be on the bus more than five minutes since we lived within a half mile of the school. Not one to be easily deterred, I asked my dad if I could ride the school bus home, but all he answered was that it was up to my mom.
Like that was a big help.

When I started second grade, I pulled out all the stops. I begged, whined and pestered my mom about riding the bus until she final gave in. The night before I was to ride it, she had me repeat the bus number to her several times. She even called the bus owner, which happened to be our cousin.

The next day at school, I was so excited that I told everybody in my class, “I get to ride the bus home today.” Most of them shrugged and simply replied, “Okay.” I even told other kids who happen to be out in the hallway. They just gave me strange looks.

Obviously, none of them appreciated my excitement or how many times I had to whine to get to ride the bus.

I was giddy with excitement when my class let out. I wondered what awesome adventure awaited me on the bus. I walked out of the school and into a sea of yellow. Instantly, I was overwhelmed because I didn’t realize there were so many buses. Then I panicked and couldn’t even remember my bus number, so I climbed onto the first one I saw.
The driver was a strange man wearing big boots. His hair was long and he wore a beard. (It was the early 70s). I sat down and didn’t say a word, but the more I sat there, the more scared I became. What if the driver didn’t know where I lived and he decided to kept me forever? Then I would never see my mom, dad, or any of my family again.
Yes, I really thought that.

I jumped up and ran off of the bus. I walked down to the next one in line and recognized it’s number. I climbed onto it, but all was not well. You see, I was still horrified that I had gotten on the wrong bus. Since my bus was full of other kids, I held my terrified tears back.

When it pulled up to my driveway, there stood my mom and Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle. I still remember running down the bus steps and into my mom’s arms where I burst into tears.

“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)

One of my biggest fears was being separated from my family. And in my child’s mind, I had come close to that. But if we are Believers, that is one fear we don’t need to have. We will never be separated from our Heavenly Father and nothing can change that.

I dare say many of you are thinking I probably didn’t ever get on a bus again. Not only did I do that, but I rode it every school day. Soon after my ordeal, my mother became the bus driver. And you know what? There was no crying on the bus anymore because we had a fun like a party every day.

Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.