One Happy Girl

Yesterday afternoon, after many tears, some yelling, and my letter (which was exactly what I sent via email to the transportation department), my daughter rode the bus home from school with her brother. She was thrilled! She bounced off the bus with a huge smile on her face! It was awesome! Immediately she asked, "Do I get to ride this bus every day now?" Yes, sweetie, you do.

In my letter to the transportation department I talked about why this needed to happen - I talked about the girl and how badly she wanted to ride his bus. What I didn't talk about is how happy that makes me! To know that she wants to be part of his community. She doesn't see it as different or weird to ride his bus. To her, it's just a bus with kids going to school.

I'm not naive to the fact that she might not feel this way always. Friends already ask about her brother, but once she explains, they usually don't say any more. But I doubt that will always be the case. One day, someone will tell her that her brother is strange. They might mock him or call him a name. One day she'll have to make a choice about standing up for him.

And when that choice comes, I hope she'll remember the bus. I hope she'll remember that they are just kids, going to school, and I hope that her love for her brother and his friends will win out over the peer pressure she feels in that moment. I hope she'll make a good choice.

I don't expect that she'll always want to be with her brother the way she wants to now -- I mean what sister hasn't wanted to lock her bedroom door and put up a "No Boys Allowed" sign at some point? But right now, she does. And I'm going to do everything in my mama bear power to make sure that desire is accommodated.

With a happy heart,