Little Joys
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things" ~Robert Brault People say that "Joy" is not something for which we wait..
we are to create our own joyful moments each and every day.
I have been so torn for the past 6 months between being depressed, feeling like a failure and finding joyful moments in my life.
Six months ago I ended a thirteen year career in real estate.
The first seven years of my real estate life were fantastic, I loved it, I was on top of the world and forging ahead.
And then my daughter and her three children moved in with us, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and the bottom fell out of the real estate market.
Now, most people would have given up seven years ago, but I didn't.
I went back to class, earned another designation and got back on the road with a vengeance.
I was the comeback kid! The problem was, I didn't comeback, the world had moved on without me.
I did what every other person would have done, I updated my resume and applied for every job that I was qualified for.
So picture this: Jobs are scarce, I'm 60 years old, I've been an independent contractor for the past 13 years, and I kind of limp because of the fibromyalgia.
So how many job opportunities do you think came my way? You're right...
zero...
nada...
zip.
So out of desperation, I started looking for any job that I might be able to handle physically.
One day I was scanning the newspaper for jobs and I happened to run across an opening for a school bus driver at a large school about 20 minutes from our home.
I thought about it for a few days and decided to call for an interview.
I thought "how hard could it be".
Well, lucky for me, they hire just about anyone that walks through the door as long as they can pass a drug test, they can see, hear and breathe.
I had to obtain a CDL driver's license by memorizing all of the parts of the bus, take a written test and a driving test, and for someone like me, that had never stepped foot on a bus, that was a bit of a challenge, but I did it.
Our supervisor that hired me, must have known that I was pretty green when it came to driving huge vehicles, because he broke me in very slowly, allowing me to be a sub-driver for almost two years before I was able to fly on my own and have my own route.
The day finally came when I boarded the school bus that I would be in charge of for the entire year.
As I stopped to pick up each one of the children on my bus route, I nervously greeted each and every one of them with much apprehension, (I had heard many scary stories about this group of kids from other bus drivers that had gone before me).
I have been driving a school bus for four years now.
I have gotten to know the children that ride my bus every day.
I have also gotten to know why these children might misbehave on any given day.
I have become a shoe tier, a bandage guru, a referee, and a confidante.
I listen very closely to the conversations that go on when they think that no one is listening.
Kids are funny, when something is bothering them, they will figure out a way to get to work it out of their systems.
Bus drivers are not meant to be all of the things that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
All we are meant to do is drive the bus and get the kids from point A to point B safely.
I want to know how one is supposed to disconnect and not get involved.
I've been told, "You're not raising them, you are just driving them".
I think of the children as my own and have become very attached to some of them.
The kids tell me that I holler a lot, but that they still like me.
Sometimes I have to wear my mean face in order to get them to settle down and behave, but they know I mean business, but they also know that I am a friend and when they are on my bus, I will protect them as if they were my own.
These are the joys that I have found in my life.
When a child gets on my bus in the morning and brings me a picture or a note or when a teenager gets off my bus in the afternoon and says "Thank you" or "Have a nice day".
Sometimes I have teenagers come up to the front of the bus and just want to talk to me for no apparent reason, while we are waiting for other students to board the bus.
I feel that the time and effort that I have devoted to this job has paid off in securing little joys along the way.
It's not real estate, I don't get big paychecks or big pats on the back or even awards, but what I do enjoy is the fact that my presence in that child's life everyday, might in some small way affect his/her life down the road.
Maybe I'm reading too much into my job, but these are the little joys that I create for myself every day.
we are to create our own joyful moments each and every day.
I have been so torn for the past 6 months between being depressed, feeling like a failure and finding joyful moments in my life.
Six months ago I ended a thirteen year career in real estate.
The first seven years of my real estate life were fantastic, I loved it, I was on top of the world and forging ahead.
And then my daughter and her three children moved in with us, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and the bottom fell out of the real estate market.
Now, most people would have given up seven years ago, but I didn't.
I went back to class, earned another designation and got back on the road with a vengeance.
I was the comeback kid! The problem was, I didn't comeback, the world had moved on without me.
I did what every other person would have done, I updated my resume and applied for every job that I was qualified for.
So picture this: Jobs are scarce, I'm 60 years old, I've been an independent contractor for the past 13 years, and I kind of limp because of the fibromyalgia.
So how many job opportunities do you think came my way? You're right...
zero...
nada...
zip.
So out of desperation, I started looking for any job that I might be able to handle physically.
One day I was scanning the newspaper for jobs and I happened to run across an opening for a school bus driver at a large school about 20 minutes from our home.
I thought about it for a few days and decided to call for an interview.
I thought "how hard could it be".
Well, lucky for me, they hire just about anyone that walks through the door as long as they can pass a drug test, they can see, hear and breathe.
I had to obtain a CDL driver's license by memorizing all of the parts of the bus, take a written test and a driving test, and for someone like me, that had never stepped foot on a bus, that was a bit of a challenge, but I did it.
Our supervisor that hired me, must have known that I was pretty green when it came to driving huge vehicles, because he broke me in very slowly, allowing me to be a sub-driver for almost two years before I was able to fly on my own and have my own route.
The day finally came when I boarded the school bus that I would be in charge of for the entire year.
As I stopped to pick up each one of the children on my bus route, I nervously greeted each and every one of them with much apprehension, (I had heard many scary stories about this group of kids from other bus drivers that had gone before me).
I have been driving a school bus for four years now.
I have gotten to know the children that ride my bus every day.
I have also gotten to know why these children might misbehave on any given day.
I have become a shoe tier, a bandage guru, a referee, and a confidante.
I listen very closely to the conversations that go on when they think that no one is listening.
Kids are funny, when something is bothering them, they will figure out a way to get to work it out of their systems.
Bus drivers are not meant to be all of the things that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
All we are meant to do is drive the bus and get the kids from point A to point B safely.
I want to know how one is supposed to disconnect and not get involved.
I've been told, "You're not raising them, you are just driving them".
I think of the children as my own and have become very attached to some of them.
The kids tell me that I holler a lot, but that they still like me.
Sometimes I have to wear my mean face in order to get them to settle down and behave, but they know I mean business, but they also know that I am a friend and when they are on my bus, I will protect them as if they were my own.
These are the joys that I have found in my life.
When a child gets on my bus in the morning and brings me a picture or a note or when a teenager gets off my bus in the afternoon and says "Thank you" or "Have a nice day".
Sometimes I have teenagers come up to the front of the bus and just want to talk to me for no apparent reason, while we are waiting for other students to board the bus.
I feel that the time and effort that I have devoted to this job has paid off in securing little joys along the way.
It's not real estate, I don't get big paychecks or big pats on the back or even awards, but what I do enjoy is the fact that my presence in that child's life everyday, might in some small way affect his/her life down the road.
Maybe I'm reading too much into my job, but these are the little joys that I create for myself every day.
