Yellow Submarine—Day 3 of a Town Girl Touched by the Farming Life

            What town family has not been touched by a little envy when it comes to the big yellow school bus?  Now, the farm kids are saying, "What?!"  Yep, that's right.  The big yellow school bus.  What is the fascination?  Everything.

Not a bus, but the kids thought riding public
transportation to get here was as
"exciting as riding a school bus"

            First, when the bus kids arrive at school, they come pouring off—jumping, hollering, and racing for the door.  To the unknowing town kid, this departure resembles patrons disembarking a Six Flags ride.

            Second, when it's time to go home, the bus kids enter a new realm of the privileged and mysterious.  Sometimes, the bus kids are released first.  What a privilege!  The town kids have to wait for what feels like an eternity.  Other times, the town kids are released first, maybe even hurried out the door.  As the town kids walk down the hall, they hear activity and maybe even playing back in the room.  What are those bus kids doing?  Did the teacher do something special for them?  It is all mysterious.

            Besides, when those bus kids get home, they can go out in the barn lot and play with animals or climb in the hayloft.  Even their dogs get to run around their yards without being tied up.  Boy, they have it all.

            On the other hand, the bus kids probably have their own little bouts of envy.  They know what it is really like to ride the bus every day.  They see the town kids leisurely walking home or being picked up by parents in the family car.  They envision town kids going back to neighborhoods where everyone is out playing ball together or having some grand adventure in their backyards with all lots of kids—and no chores to do.  Of course, this is not a necessarily realistic view either.

            Eventually, a truer picture touches every family.  Town kids realize that the big yellow bus is not so fun, and country kids realize that living in town has its disadvantages as well.  Hopefully, both come to realize (like this town girl did) that where you live does not really matter, but making the most of where you live and finding the blessings that come along with it does.  As for my kids, they, too, went through a stage that the sight of a yellow school bus triggered screams and wild finger pointing.  "Mom, look, look, it's a bus, a school bus."  By their reaction, you would think that they had just seen the Beatles' Yellow Submarine go cruising down the highway.

            If you were a town kid, did you envy something about farm kids?  If you were a farm kid, did you envy something about town kids?


Read more 30 Day blogs starting with My Generation.