Cool Bus

It's no secret that my darling husband has a slight obsession with school buses. He and our ridiculous friends have spent many alcohol fueled hours trying to figure out how to purchase a school bus. Would they need a CDL license? Where would they park it? Would it need a city sticker? Would they be able to install a bar and a urinal in it? Could they hire a driver? What would they name it?

They made hypothetical plans for road trips, bar crawls, tailgating and so on. More than once driving through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio we've passed school bus graveyards. Each time I see Andy's eyes light up and hear those rusty wheels in his head start turning. When we had the crew in for the Cubs game, make no mistake, a bus was rented to cart us around. It wasn't our school bus, but it was a bus nonetheless. A partial realization of the dream, I suppose.

When we moved I started to hear a lot less about the school bus. Some of the boy wonders who added endless fuel to the bus conversation moved away from Chicago as well. Some became parents. Some realized that plans made after several drinks aren't usually followed through on. The excitement about the school bus ebbed, and life went on.

And yet, somehow I still hear more about about school buses than necessary. Every day. Several times a day. With unadulterated glee.

Only now it's from my darling babe. Almost every weekday morning, if you are in my neighborhood and look up at my bedroom window, you can spot a towheaded little one with her nose crammed against the glass watching the kids get on the bus for school. The entire time she's saying "School bus, Mama! School bus. Lellow school bus mommy!".

When we are playing in the family room or in the yard and she hears the beepbeepbeep of a bus in reverse she goes running in search of it, the entire time yelling "School bus, mommy! Addie see school bus!".

Yesterday, on our way home from getting the car serviced, she was starting to fade in the back seat, lulling into a needed nap. Then, as clear as can be, she squealed "Mama! Mommy! Addie see BABY school bus. Baby school bus, mama...aaaah, babeee."

And for the next 30 minutes all I heard about was that baby school bus.

Again, today, as we were running home from our errands and she spotted another baby school bus. This time she said my name a dozen times and then said "Aaaaddddiiiieeee liiiiike babeee school bus. Catch baby school bus, mama, catch baby school bus."

I'm not ashamed to admit that I accelerated a little bit and caught that baby school bus, and my little lady clapped and waved enthusiastically.

Like father like daughter - playing at the pumpkin patch last month. Hee hee.