06/04/2026
Why did I randomly decide to bake cookies at 8PM last night? 🫣
As most of you know, the school year is coming to an end and it made me reflect on this past school year. (Warning:::This may become long & sappy)
Last fall when school started we were mid house build in Whitewater so we made the tough decision to have our kids move schools at the start of the year instead of transitioning them after we moved from Janesville. Every single morning and afternoon we drove from Janesville to Whitewater and back home to Janesville. It was a lot of driving but we got to drive past our house being built twice a day so that was pretty cool and my boys and I got into some pretty deep conversations along the way.
Besides being in a new school district another new experience for my younger two kids was riding a bus to finish the trip to their school. 🚌 This is probably not as big of a deal for most parents but I’m a special needs parent. Our youngest son has severe hearing loss and is nonverbal. He does a little sign language but that’s not helpful when nobody else knows it on the bus. We had so many fears… what if he gets teased and can’t tell us, what if kids are physical with him, what if he loses his hearing devices, what if he doesn’t know when to get on/off the bus, what if he gets dropped off at the wrong spot?
The first day of school came and my youngest very proudly and confidently walked right up to the bus. His favorite song is Wheels on the Bus so he was quite excited to be riding on one! He sat right in the front seat. When putting him on the bus my husband realized he knew the driver! He was a local farmer that had known my husband’s family for years. We explained a bit about our son’s special needs and he instantly reassured us that he’d look after him. He definitely did, all year long!
We had no idea the relationship my boys would form with their bus driver. When I asked my middle son about his day it was always a story he had heard from his bus driver. Every day they would talk about farming. The bus driver pointed out his farm to my boys and he told them about the cows they have. My son would come up with farming questions to ask him. He talked about his bus driver like he talked about a best friend.
Our youngest was treated with more care than we ever thought. The bus driver made sure he wouldn’t get knocked down by kids rushing on or off the bus. He made sure the front seat was reserved for him. He would give me updates like if my son fell asleep on the bus but mostly that he just loved looking out the window and enjoying the view most of the ride. There was a time he lost his hearing devices and the driver let me on the bus to look (yes I found them!) After that he was always looking to make sure my son had his devices before getting off. On days my middle son wasn’t riding with him, the bus driver would have another kid who was kind to my son sit with him and keep him company. We’ve ran into the bus driver at school events and he always gives my sons a great big greeting and a fist bump.
They really had a great year and riding the bus was a huge highlight thanks to this very awesome bus driver. So yes he’s getting cookies as a thank you for making my boys’ bus riding experience great this year. We hope to have him again next year and we hope he enjoys his summer! 🫶
