List of buses

I got this idea from my SIL Emily. She also made a list of buses that she has ridden in her life. I think that the idea appealed to me because you ride a bus for a reason, and that is a commentary in itself on what you were doing in your life, and also because there are so many different kind of buses.

• The first bus I remember riding was the pool bus. When we lived in Hudson, Iowa, (1977-1987) we rode a school bus from our elementary school to the closest pool in Dike in the summer. Those were great times. We would bring money with us to buy candy and pop at the concessions stand, favorites were Bottle Caps, and Laffy Taffy. I remember laying our beach towels out on the cement and "tanning." And getting enough courage to jump off the diving board. It seems like all of the kids from the whole small town of Hudson went. There is a snapshot somewhere of all of my siblings (well maybe not Jacob, he was a baby) standing around waiting for the bus.
  
• When we moved to Minnesota, I took the bus to school for the first time. I remember standing at the bus stop and the conversations we had with the other kids. Specifically I remember a conversation about how the kids in my family took showers at night before we went to bed and how one kid thought that was gross because he always showered in the morning. Funny things you remember. Then in junior high, I remember the boys on the bus were really gross, always telling dirty jokes and making fun of people. If I ever find out that my kids are in that kind of environment, I'll do anything I can to avoid it like drive them. Or maybe it is unavoidable, but you are so confined on a bus. You have to make so many decisions like who to sit by, what to talk about. What to react to.
  
• I rode the "activity bus" home in high school because I got my license late, but always stayed after for extra-extracurriculars. There were usually just a couple other kids on it and usually just did my homework. I have a lot of memories from riding the bus to away games, from our coach giving us pep talks, to making flashcards, eating apples, and the dilemma of what shoes to wear that would look OK with warm up pants because the game shoes were only for the court, and trying to get all of my crazy hair into a ponytail, and not feeling comfortable enough or confident enough to know who would want me to sit with them. One of the hardest parts socially, was having different values than most people, like if "they" are all talking about drinking and naughty boys, how do I even fit in? As a parent this is something that is hard for me too, thinking about my kids growing up and making friends because I realize the value of having close personal relationships, but it is hard to find friends who share common values.
  
• Some of the best bus rides were on our 8-hour youth trips to the Chicago Temple. It was like a party on wheels. We rode those charter buses that have toilets in the back. We played paper games, told our deepest secrets, massaged each other in a long chain, shared earphones from walkmen, shared faith building experiences, flirted with all the good Mormon boys, painted our nails, ate tons of junk food, got to know our leaders really well.
  
• My senior year I went to the UofM instead of high school and I wasn't driving yet, so I took the city buses. It was really liberating and helped me define myself, to be out in the world. Lots of men from all different ages and backgrounds approached me on those buses, which was mostly just flattering and fun, but sometimes scary. I wore clunky green suede lace up shoes that were like "grunge". Do you remember that fashion era, . . .Grunge? Do you remember that girls' shirts were not form fitting like they are now? And that over-sized plaid shirts and baggy pants were all the rage? (I'm talking 1994)
  
• There were the on-campus shuttles at the UofM too, which were small out-dated buses, but more exhilarating because there were all kinds of handsome college guys riding them (who didn't know that I didn't know how to relate to my teammates, or didn't know which shoes to wear or fought with my parents) and sophisticated looking intellectuals and hippy chicks (at least that is how I categorized them in my head).
• Then when I went out to BYU I rode the bus up to Salt Lake a couple times, but that's about it.
• In Korea, the buses were crowded, like human sardines, but modern, and everyone was dressed nicely and all the women smelled like rose water, and it was extremely humid (I was only there for three months in the summer) and most people fanned themselves with those little hand held wooden fans.
  
• On my mission the buses were circa 1950, crowded, with Russian accordion accompanied ballads blaring over the speakers, and had velvet curtains with fringe. The drivers had collections of gaudy gilded framed ikonka, (holy pictures of saints who protect them). Everyone got pushed around, or told where to sit or stand and you had to hold on tight, cuz someone was trying to hold on to you, and trying to shield myself with my messenger bag. Young men would read our name tags and say, "Hey sister, where is your brother?" And I got to know really well the smell of alcohol on your neighbors breath, because that is what you are breathing in. And wondering how far the babushki with the heavy buckets of potatoes had to walk after they got off.
  
• After that I haven't really ridden buses much. Having kids makes it harder to do, although I have a few times.