Friday, February 22, 2008

As far as the east is from the west...


I was hoping that my expectations weren't too high. We all know the hurt that comes of expecting Aspen and getting Fargo. My mental picture of what I'd see in the bus mirror this morning was of studious, introverted girls sitting in their bus seats reviewing yesterday's homework. I nailed it. What I hadn't expected was seeing laptops out with with their glowing screens popping up all over. Every girl at Rangel gets one.

Something else I was hoping for was politeness. Of the 57 boys I used to transport, only one ever made a habit of saying "thank you" while passing by me. Today, more than half of the girls said the magic words.

I think I made a big impression on the ladies because I had spent nearly two hours scrubbing years of filth off the walls of the old bus. They picked up on that right away. I also fixed two windows from rattling like a western diamondback. It's hard to transform ole #301 into a modern Greyhound, but I'm trying.

All in all, a job that I already enjoyed just got even better. Will a brand-new bus be the next blessing?

2 comments:

Lynn Leaming said...

Glad the girls did not disappoint you. I know God is going to use you to bless them all in a special way.

Tim Perkins said...

Today, in the free time I had on the field trip, I spent another 3 hours scrubbing the inside of the bus. The ceiling had become filthy and rust-colored over the 12-year life of the bus. I managed to get 3/4 of it sparkling clean. The cool thing is that I was able to use my right arm and shoulder, the joint repaired in the November surgery. Cool!

I hope to be able to finish the cleaning assignment on Monday. Sure hope the girls appreciate the pristine environment. Wonder how many individual bacteria I removed?