Mr. Bus-Driver Man II

After six years of living in family housing and having taken the internal Blue Bus shuttle almost everyday all this time, Jude and I like to think that we know almost all the bus drivers who drive our route. We don't know each of them personally of course, but six years is long enough to develop an opinion about each of these individuals who are responsible for getting you to school in the most inclement weather (a.k.a. This Past Week). There's the lady who's always a little gruff with you but is really a softie when it comes to babies and old ladies; that one guy who never seems to be in the official UM PTA uniform but wears a sweatshirt instead and only talks to undergrad girls; the Bus Driver From Hell who NEVER stops in front of the bus-stop but several meters away just so you have to walk for your ride even if it means trudging through 10-inches of snow. And then there's Mr. Bus Driver Man. Almost four years ago, I had blogged about the same bus-driver and how he had plucked flowers for his wife while waiting for his scheduled time to leave. It's been a while since I saw him and I thought maybe he had retired.

But no, I realized today that it probably has more to do with the times I take the bus- I usually leave the house at 9-ish in the morning and catch the late evening bus home. But because of the weather advisory today, I thought I should leave school early and actually made it out of the building before 3pm. Lo and behold, I hop onto Mr. Bus Driver Man's bus :) He looks exactly the same and just as sweet. Despite the cold and snow, he personally stood outside his bus to wait for people who might be rushing for the bus just so they'd know he was waiting for them and he literally jumped off the bus when it looked like a girl who had just alighted had sprained her ankle. If he could, I really think he would have taken her to the doctor's himself.

I know it seems odd to blog about a bus-driver who hardly knows who I am but it was moving to see little acts of kindness unfold before you. Especially from people who are so much a part of your everyday life that you don't often stop to think of them as individuals...