The Alaska Way

For me, the hardest part about living in Alaska has been remembering that we are living in Alaska. I grew up in California and until now, have raised my kids in California. As a mother, it is not in my nature to let my children roam around unaccompanied at all hours of the day or night. Around here, it's perfectly normal for a neighbor kid to come to the door at 8:00 pm to see if my boys (ages 10 & 8) want to go sledding. Granted, the sledding hill is just at the end of our driveway, but the answer is still "no"!

Last week, two neighbor boys were allowed to come inside our house to play and stay into the evening even though their parent had never met us. This seemed a bit odd to me (I know it occurs in CA too, but it seemed a bit strange to me). When it was time for the kids to go home I asked if they needed an escort (considering that it was already dark outside, they are only 7 and 10, and we live among moose and bears), they both declined. I explained that I'm still used to the California way of life and I gave them our phone number and told them both to call me when they arrived at their homes safely. They looked at me like I was off my rocker, but both boys politely obliged and gave me a call upon thier safe arrival home.

Which leads me to my real story......

Now that you all can imagine how protective my husband and I can be (my husband more so than I)....let's go back to the second week my children were in school here. We have free district school bus service to and from school if we choose. The boys have never taken the bus in their lives, but decided they would like to give it a try. We insisted that I pick them up from school the first week and then we'd let them give the bus a try on week 2.

At dinner, the evening before the "big day", we had a family discussion about riding the bus. The boys new which bus number they were to take (we had drilled them a million times the week before), where to get off, not to cross the street until the bus had pulled away, and to look both ways before crossing. I sent Logan with a cell phone and instructed him to call if there were any problems or if they missed the bus.

I consider myself lucky, because I have the luxury of being able to see the stop and kids get off the bus from my kitchen window. I don't ever have to wait in the elements for the kids to get home! The boys get out of school at 3:30 and the bus usually arrives at our bus stop at around 3:40. I decided I would go out and meet them as they got off the bus, since this was their first day riding. As 3:30 came and went, I knew the boys had made it on the bus safe and sound because I didn't get a call from Logan...or had they????

The bus finally pulled up, the doors open, and I'm anxiously waiting to see my boys' smiling faces. Several children pile off the bus and I finally see Logan step off, at which point I knew I could rest easy, until...I asked where his brother Kaiden was. Logan assured me Kaiden was somewhere on the bus, he was sure he had seen him. When the last child had come off the bus and it wasn't Kaiden, my heart stopped!!!!!! The bus driver called for Kaiden, but to no avail! Upon further interrogation, Logan revealed that he didn't actually see Kaiden get on the bus, but that he thought he saw Kaiden already on the bus. HE NEVER THOUGHT TO WAIT FOR HIS BROTHER BEFORE GETTING ON THE BUS!!!!! The one and only rule we didn't clarify, because we thought common sense would have told them to do so, but NOOOOOO!

I was surprisingly calm for a moment and then reality (well, my reality anyway) set in! Logan and I ran home so I could call school, I was sure there had been a misunderstanding of some kind, Kaiden probably got on the wrong bus, but then...my mind started wandering and I started to panic! What if he had gotten off the bus at the wrong stop and was now lost, somewhere in the middle of Alaska, not knowing our phone number or address (remember this was only our third week in AK)! I about lost it! What was I going to tell Eric, he would flip (he didn't want the boys taking the bus in the first place)??????

As I was getting ready to dial the phone, I noticed that I had two missed calls on my cell phone. The phone rang and it was Eric's voice on the other end. Figuring he knew something I didn't. I blurted out "where is he???" Eric informed me that Kaiden had waited for Logan at school, but never saw him, so he didn't get on the bus. Our (one and only) friend, Cathy, had Kaiden and called Eric to let him know. Eric also informed me that they (Kaiden, and Cathy's two children) were all were sure Logan had taken the wrong bus home! Little did they know, he took the right bus and was standing next to me, safe and sound, in our house! I explained that I had Logan, Cathy brought Kaiden home, and life was good again! DISASTER DIVERTED!!!!!!

As you can imagine, we had a long discussion with the boys that evening, explaining that one is not to get on the bus without the other. They have since taken the bus several times without incident. I have to say, I don't rest easy until I see their little bodies cross the street for home each afternoon. Part of me thinks it would be easier to just pick them up from school everyday, but I know I have to give them some independence eventually and this might as well be a step in that direction. After all, I'm not letting them walk home among the moose, alone at night, right?????