I'm glad that the girls are getting the experience of being 'in' the bus, rather than just seeing it from outside. Seeing it and wondering about the people who are in it. Seeing it and coming to fear the people in it. Seeing it and coming to think that the worst thing in the world would be to ride in it. Instead, they think it's cool. They like the drivers - who to a one over the several times they've ridden the bus, have been wonderful to them. They like the view through the big, big, windows. In fact, on this ride they compared it to our own personal 'space ship.' USS WheelTrans Enterprise!
They've met other people with disabilities on the bus, of course, and they meet them when they are going places, doing things, living lives. We dropped one guy off at the terminal for the Toronto Islands Ferry. We dropped a young woman off at a mall downtown. We dropped one fellow, and his girlfriend, going off to a bar. All of these at different times on different rides. The bus is simply a transport for people going about the business of living their lives.
I've never talked to them about the bus or the people on it. Sometimes experiences are best had, not analysed, sometimes object lessons teach themselves. When we arrived at ComiCon, they piled off the bus all excited about where we were going. They wanted to know why I hadn't booked the bus back - I didn't know what time to ask for so didn't book a ride. When I explained, they were disappointed but understood.
They like riding my bus.
And because they've looked out of those windows, they'll always see the world differently.
"Sometimes experiences are best had, not analysed, sometimes object lessons teach themselves."
ReplyDeleteThat in itself is a lesson in restraint, which is one of the hardest lessons of all to learn. I wonder how many times I've pontificated to others the lessons they should be learning when in fact I could have just shut my mouth and let the lesson teach itself.
A very good thing to meditate on today.
Sue