My Gift Here for You

So, here is my gift;

This box here for you.

It’s all wrapped up, all shiny, 

And brand spankin’ new.

Oh, wait, it could be just ancient -

Wow, I guess I never knew.

You see, it looked quite the mess 

When it sat on the table.

I tied it with ribbons and bows,

And even entangled it in cable.

But one corner poked out as I stretched out the paper,

So I feared that my best was simply incapable.

But then, it appeared, very quickly and slickly,

An idea hit me, smack in my head.

With paintbrush of light blue and sprinkled with gold,

I painted the thing...yet still it was dead.

But instead of just stopping, I added some green;

Then, without breath, I added some red.

So, here is my gift;

This box here for you.

It’s all wrapped up, and now sticky.

Please wear at least one glove;

For there is nothing finer than a still-drying symbol

Of promise, and dreams and hope...and some love.

Grateful and Thankful

I am grateful for the ability to take into my being life’s sweet exhale.
I am grateful for my ability to witness the dance of light and energy, to call it beauty.
I am grateful for my ability to feel all life’s texture and know I’m connected.
I am grateful for my ability to partake in life’s plenty so I can fuel my joy.
I am grateful for my ability to hear the music of the sphere so that I can know peace.

I am thankful for the spirits who walked this earth before me,
I am thankful for those who I stand along side, for they hold me up when I stumble.
I am thankful for those who come when I have need, call or duty.
I am thankful those who stand against me; for against their will, they still push me forward.
I am thankful for the sovereignty of the tapestry of life, even if the weft and warp fight the loom.

I am grateful for family without whom I would have no gifts and opportunities.
I am grateful for the folks who spent time with me, even if that time was fleeting.
I am grateful for those who have given so much, and by happenstance, gave to me.
I am grateful for the one who held my hand through my life’s path, and as yet, has not let go.
I am most grateful for all that pumps and surges through me, the electricity that fires our imperfect bodies.

Of all of this, I give thanks.

to all on this day, and all days, of giving thanks

The Angry Stop Arm Beast, an SBK episode.

So, the color of daylight had finally begun to creep into the sky at the beginning of my bus route.  The moon and stars no longer held domain.  Before my first stop, I noticed that the ground was finally covered in a full blanket of snow, and the skeletal deciduous trees which was full of sparkly frost, had taken on a cerulean blue tone against a slightly green blue sky.  I also noticed that the pines and spruces still remained stoic in their own dark silhouettes, and laid witness to the pink marked horizon which differentiated heaven from planet.  The day before, I saw the rising sun as it was being stretched into a lit taper while snowflakes danced about an ever-increasing clear sky in flashes of diamonds.  Today, I laid witness to the promenade of her majesty, the large super moon, across the early, pre-dawn firmament.

This was the serenity that occupied my pre-vernal world; however, before I got to inhale, a cry so rudely interceded upon the scene.  It was the screech of a boy.  He was trying to remind me that, in spite of my many years of experience, I still had a lot to learn about the various environs of a big, yellow school bus.  You see, these internal biomes hold “creatures” that I have never seen, let alone catalogued.  The reason is simple, you see.  A yellow school bus is very much like the deepest of oceans, uncharted due to conditions inhospitable to humans...or so I have been told.

“Make it stop!  Make it stop!” cried the boy who was sitting directly behind me.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it is hurting me,” whimpered the boy.

“What?” I asked.

“The Stop Arm Beast!” yelled the boy, as if it was obvious that I had seen the creature, along with the rest of the bus.  

I had never heard of such a thing, let alone seen one.

“Um...okay.  What did it look like?” I posed.

With a sigh, the boy confided, “Well, it is red.  Has a flashing eye.  And then some white on it.”

“Um, that’s not much of a description,” I said.

“That’s because it was not attacking you!  It knocked my glasses off my face!” screamed the boy.

“Okay,” I cajoled.

Apparently, the Stop Arm Beast must have taken great exception to the placement of the boy.  You see, the boy sat directly behind me on the bus.  He had not sat in that seat until this morning.  Now, apparently, every time I stopped the bus and opened the door, the Beast would jump out of its hiding spot and promptly attack the student.  Then, just as quickly would disappear again.  It was puzzling.  I had assumed that all of the creatures to be found on a school bus would be harmless, even if there were monsters.  But here was the scene, a monster attacked a boy.  The proof was in the boy’s eyeglasses.  

Disappointed, but determined, I waited in the driver’s seat for the monster to reappear.  The boy in the seat behind me did the same.  And there we sat while the countryside sped by our point of view.  And we waited.  Then, finally, after opening the door a number of times, I noticed a flash of red with a touch of white.  It moved so fast.  It could have only been the Stop Arm Beast.  Before it could attack the boy, I grabbed the top of the wee beastie.  It blinked a red eye at me in confusion and, probably, anger as well.  It decided to turn its “attention” on me, which was good for the boy, but not so much for me.  We fought for a second or two, and then I noticed it had decided to grab a hold of my sleeve.  It would not let go.  So, we fought for a second or two more.  Still, the Stop Arm Beast couldn’t or wouldn’t let go.  Then, it decided to go into hiding.  And bang!  Like that, end of the struggle.  

So, here I sit on my school bus, waiting.  The moon is gorgeous, and so are the stars.  I hope that I will be able to get some dinner...because I am sitting on my bus still waiting for that angry Stop Arm Beast to let go of my arm.  Eeeewww.  It has now rolled up my sleeve....and started to lick.

Sparkles on the Bus: A SBK Moment

It had been a while since they had seen a bus, let alone ride one.  They were all giddy.  They were all happy.  They bounced as they all entered the bus.  I closed the doors and headed for homes and day cares that would take them all in.  Suddenly out of the blue, sparkles appeared.  They all “oohed” and “aahed.”  They started to call them stars.  The students watched as they moved about the bus.  

“There’s one on the seat,” replied one child with a sharp point of a finger.

“There’s one on the bus driver’s head,” pointed another.

They all giggled and shrieked in delight, for those stars were naughty.  Those stars would not sit still for anyone, no matter how loud the students were.  The stars did not listen to me either, no matter how stern I was when I pleaded.  So, the children began to pretend to hunt the naughty stars that appeared on the bus.  They were all having so much fun.

In the midst of that hunting moment, I asked the kids if any of them had hunted lightning bugs at night.  Everyone shook their heads.  So, I told them about the great lightning bug hunts I had as a kid.  I told them about how I would race about the entire yard with a glass canning jar in my hand.  I would try hard to catch just one green, blinking lightning bug in my jar.  I told them that once I was certain that I had one blinking bug in the jar, I would go to the porch of my house and show my father.  Once he my father confirmed that I had indeed captured a lightning bus, I would open the jar and let it go.  

One of my students asked, “why did you let it go?”

I said, “because lightning bugs have a job to do.  They must fly around and blink.  When the lightning bugs get into those jars, they start to slow down their blinking, and eventually stop.”

The same child asked, “they stop?”

I thought for a moment, then replied, “yes, they do.  It’s kinda like when you get grounded by your folks and sent to your room.”

All the student nodded.  

“Well, it is the same for our lightning bug friends.  Like I said, it is their job to fly about and blink.  It is how they attract their food or a friend.  When they are caught inside a jar, they can not do those sort of things.  It makes them very unhappy.”

The bus went quiet for a minute to consider what I had said, then one child piped up, “So, do you chase stars at night with the school bus?”

I said, “No, the stars are too high for me to reach with the school bus.”

“But how did the stars get into the bus?” asked one little boy.

Before I could answer the question, we made a turn with the bus, and the stars disappeared.  

“Are the stars unhappy?” asked a little girl, with a touch of honest concern for the stars in her voice.

I thought for a moment, and then I said, “we do not lock the doors of the school bus at night, in case a curious star gets caught.  And no, our stars right now are not happy, because they can not find a way out.  However, once they do, they will glow once again.”

We made another turn and stopped at our first stop.  Those naughty little stars reappeared, which made everyone cheer.  Then, one little girl stood up with her sparkly panda book bag.

With a smile, she walked off the bus, followed by the stars.  

We all said goodbye to our little friends.  I closed the school bus door.  We rode a village block when one of the boys announced in a fairly loud voice that we were being followed by a school bus tornado.  

“Hurry up, bus driver!”cried the boy.  

So, away down the road we went.