There are no pictures with this post. What happened today is not really something you would think to take pictures of while it is happening. This post is also another great example of my byline of a mom trying to stay sane raising three teenagers.
I am a pretty laid back person. I don't usually sweat the small stuff. Today though I was temporarily in a state of panic. My son was missing for almost 90 minutes. This morning was our first day back to school in almost 3 weeks. He had trouble sleeping last night, and did not want to go back to school this morning. He was really tired, and is not a big fan of school. At the end of the school day, two of my kids ride a transfer bus to the school where my youngest goes to school. They usually meet up at the school, and then all come home together. Today I got a text from Kara asking if I could pick her up. The snow was too deep for her to walk in, and she could not remember which bus she should get on since she normally does not ride it. I told her that I would be right there. Along the way, I thought I saw her brother walking toward home. When we got back home just a few minutes later, I was surprised to see that he was not home yet. Then a few minutes after that Kristina walked in from the bus stop. She said she did not remember seeing Kyle on the bus at all. What?! If he was not on the bus and did not walk home, where was he?
I tried to text him a few times. He did not text me back. I tried to call him several times. Each time I called, it went directly to voice mail. I got in the car, and drove around the neighborhood in case he was just hanging out somewhere.. I saw no one. I told the girls that I was going to drive over to the school. I was hoping that I would find him there. Maybe he had stayed after school, or maybe just missed the bus. Since his cell phone was going directly to voice mail, it was either turned off or possibly out of battery. When I got to the school, it was already an hour after school had been out. All of the offices were already closed up for the night. I found a teacher I know really well, and told her that I was not sure what to do. She was able to track down the principal for me who was still at the school.
He helped me search the school. He thought maybe Kyle had gone to tutoring. I told him that I knew he hadn't, but it would be worth checking. He checked the list, and just like I thought, he was not on it. We then thought maybe he went to the Robotics room. Part of the team was there working on some of the business stuff, but no Kyle. I was really starting to panic at this point. The principal had been on hold with the bus garage, hoping they could verify if Kyle had gotten on the bus after school. His bus driver was still out on her route so it took a few minutes to find out. The dispatcher confirmed that yes he did get on the bus, but they thought he got off at Kara's school.. Then she said hang on.. About a minute later we were told, not only did he get on the bus, but he was still on the bus!! Turns out he was so tired from not sleeping well last night, he fell asleep on a noisy bus of high schoolers. Since he normally does not get off the bus at the bus stop, not doing so today was not really noticed . He was sitting way in the back of the bus, so his sister did not see him. He says when he woke up none of the kids were on the bus with him, just the bus driver. I asked him if he went to the front of the bus to talk to her. He said no. When the principal talked to the bus garage, they said that his bus driver would bring him home at the end of her route. He had to go to the middle school and one of the elementary schools across town, and wait until all the younger kids were dropped off. Finally at 5:06 p.m. my tired son arrived home, two hours later than normal. Whew..
After his experience today, I really do not think he will be falling asleep on the bus again. I also now have another funny story to tell my grandchildren someday. :)
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