Sunny day, sweepin the clouds away

I went for a walk this morning before work. It was funny because I tried to get up at 6am, and my alarm started going off then, but I couldn't actually pull myself out of bed until 7:30, but it was still enough time for a 45 minute walk. Hahaha. Okay anyway, it was a beautiful walk. I have fallen in love with our neighborhood lately... it is really charming. Yes, I said charming!

The sky was grey, the air was humid, and the light breeze was almost imperceptible. It seemed the grey clouds were completely stagnant, but I later noticed they were actually moving really quickly... they were just mammoth so they appeared to be still.

What really took me was a few times I saw neighborhood kids waiting for and boarding their school buses. I passed a big house on a corner, with a U-shaped driveway and a white picket fence (literally). A man came out carrying something, with a kid walking behind him, just as I noticed a school bus approaching from the other direction. It turned out it was a purple wheelchair, a child's size. His son was smiling and laughing and looking delighted with life, and sat down into the wheelchair. (I guess he wasn't walking that easily after all.) As the bus stopped and put on its red flashers, a 9 car back-up formed. The bus driver came down, said good morning to the Dad, and they both helped the boy get onto the bus with the lift on the back. The patience of the drivers and the quiet joy of the family was what impressed me the most. It's actually things like this that make me feel really patriotic.

I walked a few blocks, and was coming again upon someone waiting for a school bus - lots of little someones. I would say they were preschoolers or kindergarteners. What was cute and Sesame-Streetish about the whole scene was they were fairly racially diverse, wearing all kinds of bright colors, and accompanied by parents at a 1:1 or even 2:1 ratio. The bus stopped across the street, a woman (not the driver) came out and stood in the middle of the street, and the preschool parade crossed single-file. The parents were all waving and smiling and yelling goodbye and have a good day. The thing is, it's not even the first day of school. lol It was really cute.

PS. HAH! Look at this Klingon translation of the Sesame Street song. I love the internet.