Bus Driver Fail

Well I have good news and bad news.
The good news is I'll be blogging again.
The bad news is I quit my bus driving job.
Don't get any crazy ideas...
I loved driving the bus.
I loved the kids.
I loved all the people I met and worked with on my bus driving journey.
What I didn't love was not having a regular route and being lost in different buses on different routes without hope of having my own route until well into next year.
The clincher came two days ago when I rode along on a special needs route that needed a sub.
When I got on that bus to go to different schools in parts of Portland that I wasn't familiar with, feeling completely lost to pick up kids that I didn't feel the least bit qualified to care for and get them home safely while navigating the freeway in the rain and then trying to remember and decipher directions through a strange town to get these kids home to their families I knew I was in over my head.
I ended up having a full on anxiety attack crying all the way back to the office to tell the dispatch lady that I was not bus driver material because I don't think bus drivers are supposed to cry and I not only cried in her office, I cried in my truck as I drove home and then when I got home I REALLY cried and then I cried all night.
My manager called and talked me off the cliff the next morning and convinced me to get back in the bus.
She was so supportive and reassured me that it's scary for everyone in the beginning and she wouldn't put me in a special needs bus ever again and I just needed to go slow and try again.
Ok.
I rode along on another route that needed a sub next week.
The idea was to have me ride along first so I would be more comfortable and not be so lost when I drove it next week.
The driver I rode with was funny and patient and explained every stop and turn.
I felt like I was going to fall face first into the seat in front of me and the more she talked the more I could only hear Charlie Browns teacher
whaa wha wha whaaaa wha wha wha whaaaa.
The back off my knees started sweating and my heart started racing.
My face started hurting and my toes were all clenched as I tried to keep talking and sound like I wasn't in the throes of a full mental breakdown.
When we got off the bus it was all I could do to thank her and make my way back to my truck without bawling my eyes out as I realized that I just wasn't cut from bus driver cloth.
I think I'm better off here at home selling my soap and slippers and making rugs and candles and planting a garden, collecting eggs and chasing sheep.
I'll always have the mobile spaces if I feel like I need an official tittle.
Marilyn Parks Trailerpark Manager.
It has a nice ring to it don't you think?
I'm also a professional driver now with a CDL so if we ever buy a dump truck or an eighteen wheeler I could drive it.
Or at least park it.
Marilyn Parks Professional Truck Parker.
Speaking of trucks...
6 got a new job!!!
He is home every night now because he is...
THE ICE CREAM MAN!

Can you even believe it!
He delivers all the ice cream and other frozen Nestle products from warehouse to warehouse in Oregon and Washington so all the little trucks can deliver to the stores.
I knew this whole marriage thing would pay off sooner or later and this is surely a lesson to all of you that dreams really do come true.
Just look at me, I'm married to the ice cream man.
❤
Peas