2003-02-23 - 8:41 p.m.
The snow and bitter cold we were warned about have finally materialized today. The sky has been opaque all day and huge wet flakes drifted in for several hours. The world is beautifully quiet and white right now, intensely cold and still. We have pulled our chairs up close to the oil heater (yes, we do have a furnace but this drafty old house never seems warm when the temperatures really plummet) and settled in with blankets and books and poems in progress for most of the afternoon. I feel content, and have just said a quiet thanks to the weather gods for delaying the storm until today.
Had it happened on Thursday, it would have been a disaster, but luckily we were tossing our jackets over our shoulder that day.... the day that Skootie and I played chaperone/bus driver, shepherding a group of students to an event at the state capitol. She was involved, at the staff level, with this group and there were several turns of events that left them without transportation. If she didn't drive, they weren't going to get to go, and she wanted them to go. But she had never driven a BIG thing before, and in fact is a confirmed small thing driver, a girl whose first car was aTriumph Spitfire. I, on the other hand, had some experience driving big things, having owned at one time or another, pickups and a van, and piloted a few moving trucks, so I was along to provide driving support. But neither of us had ever driven a bus full of people. It wasn't a full size bus, of course, just one of the fifteen passenger models, but it looked like the great white whale, sitting there in the dark parking lot at 6 am. And we were about as scared as if we were about to be swallowed. "It can't be that hard." We kept reassuring each other. "Lots of people drive these things." We named all the people we knew who had driven similar buses. "It is going to be OK. We are both good drivers..." And of course we put on a stellar performance, pretending to know what we were doing so as not to strike fear into the hearts of the passengers.
Skootie took the first driving shift. We ran into a dense cloud of fog on the road which made visibility almost nill, and made driving the whale seem a little extra surreal, but other than that we arrived without incident. There was no place in this small town to park the behemoth, and I almost gasped when she finally pulled it into a parking garage, gently scraping the top of it on the "clearance" sign. It was one of those tiny, cramped parking structures that make you feel like you are driving into the bowels of the earth, but luckily the ceiling beams were actually, oh... a good four or five inches above the top of the bus (we stopped on the inclines and I got out and checked!) and we finally landed it.
It was an interesting day in some respects. We got to observe the legislature in session, which was nothing like I expected it to be. The language of the proceedings is so formal, and archaic. The representatives have to be recognized and request permission from the speaker of the house in order to talk. They are recognized by their county, as in "Gentleman from Jackson" instead of whatever his name might be. Mostly I was just astonished (not in a good way) at what bad speakers they were, how ungrammatical and illogical and rude they sounded. And how many of them had not bothered to show up. Also surprised at the dim that was going on the entire time. All the while madam speaker was presiding up on the high bench in her black robes, and the gentlemen from wherever were talking, the REST of the reps were talking among themselves and running in and out and talking on the phone and typing on their laptops. Basically they were not paying attention at all. And I think all of the people sitting near us in the gallery were stunned when an officer of the court came up and threatened to throw US out if we were not quiet, when we had all been sitting there quietly the entire time.I think it's the...um...gentlemen down there making all the racket.
The day was for the students and they got into groups to talk after that and we waited around and people watched in the halls of government for several hours. There was also an ADA rally at the capitol building the same day, and the halls were full of people in wheel chairs, using crutches, with seeing eye dogs, and any number of less visible disabilites. I can only imagine the difficulty that this day represented for some of them, but I admire them for being so political. One woman was carrying a sign that said: "Food-- Rent-- Medicine. Why do I have to choose?"
I had mixed feelings about the outcomes of the day. In the final session we observed when the students presented the ideas they had developed in their groups. It is probably true that not much could be generated in three hours, but I was surprised there seemed to be so little depth. The student who played Madam Speaker (and most of the others who spoke) was unable to curtail her "likes" even with a gavel in her hand. "OK, so, like, does anyone else, like, want to say something?"
Still, I think it is commendable that students were willing to take time to get involved in this event. And I got to hear some intelligent, witty, and well-informed discussion on the way home. (They were asleep on the way there.) At least our little group of students seemed very involved and passionate about what they believed.
I just listened and kept my eyes on the road, because I was driving the bus on the way home. And all I could really think about was the fact that I had the lives of twelve people in my hands, and I had to stay at my most alert and careful every minute. The story has a happy, or at least a satisfactory ending: we arrived home safely. And was I tired, oh was I tired... it felt like every muscle of my body had been knotted for hours....well, I guess it had. Responsibility can be quite a heavy burden. That night I slept the sleep of the dead.
(Read Skootie's entry about this occasion. It's hilarious!)
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