Lost on the Bus

Yes, Corbin was lost on a strange bus today!

Everyday I watch for Corbin to get off the bus. Most days I walk out to meet him at the end of the driveway. Today I was trying to clean out the garden and was pulling out the tomato plants when I hear the bus pull up and stop. It hadn't stopped long when it pulled off. I look up and no Corbin.

I am getting this uneasy feeling rising in my gut. I walk to a full view and yell for Corbin. Nothing.

I go inside and call for Corbin. Nothing. Matt was home from work early and inside with the younger two. He came suddenly alarmed and asked about Corbin not getting off the bus. My stomach sinks.

I grab my cell and call another bus driver to see if he could call our bus driver on the cb, but as I suspected he didn't answer his cell while driving the bus. I called the school office and asked about Corbin and told  the secretary that he had not gotten off the bus. She was very professional and quick about calling the bus driver. The kids with him said Corbin got on another bus with some friends.

Panic! Corbin doesn't know our phone number. How was he going to find me.

She (secretary) asked who he might go home with. I said that we only knew one other family that he has gone home with once. She called that bus driver. Nothing.

She has me on the phone the whole time and this is really a rather quick process, but slow motion with crazy thoughts running through my head.

She calls out to all bus drivers and Corbin is found on bus 13. He normally rides bus 14. I hear our bus driver friend in the background say he can get Corbin and bring him to us.

I feel myself exhaling. I didn't know I had been holding my breath. 

Corbin was okay. Wasn't crying or anything. I was way more shaken up that Matt. Our friend commented on how this was wrong on many levels. I totally agree. I am sure there were innocent mistakes here, but had Corbin gotten off the bus with a friend I don't know what would have happened. 

When I talked to Corbin you could tell he didn't know how to react. I told him he wasn't in trouble and he wasn't going to get a spanking, but I needed him to talk to me. That calmed him down quite a bit. He said his teacher told him to get on the bus. He showed me how his sad face looked when he was riding this strange bus.

I don't know if Corbin was out of his normal bus line talking to some friends and then got swept up onto a different bus, or what happened, but the bus driver shouldn't have let him on without a bus pass.

I talked with Corbin how he should have gone up to the bus driver and told him how this was not his bus and to never ever go to someones house we don't know. 

Praise Jesus he is safe and God was watching over Corbin. 

I will call the school tomorrow and see what happened.