And the middle school verdict is.........

From Sept. 5...

She loved it! Shock and amazement basically describe my reaction to Hayley's announcement that "middle school is so much fun!" Oh, sweet relief!

As I wrote yesterday, I worried all day about my Hayley-Girl. When it was time for the bus to drop her off, I walked out to the bus stop to meet her. The bus soon pulled up and kid after kid after kid tumbled off, but no sign of Hayley. Before I knew it, the bus closed up and left. I asked the girl who lives across the street if she'd seen Hayley on the bus. She said she hadn't and that she, too, was wondering where she was.

I ran home and called the school. After 10 minutes of waiting on hold for them to track my daughter down, they finally did! She was on a different bus. Apparently, the school had given Hayley a slip of paper with her name on it and a new bus number. She wasn't sure what to do, so she asked at the office and they told her to get on the new bus. Wrong-o! The office staff was so apologetic, but I was still really angry. I know that mistakes happen, especially on the first day of school. But we're talking about Hayley here -- worried, fretful, emotional Hayley. I freely admit that my anger was really concern over the high unlikelihood of getting her on the bus the next day. Of temper tantrums. Of hysterics.

But my kid surprised me. The driver of bus she was actually on dropped Hayley off right in front of our house and she leaped out of the bus. I tried to give her a huge hug, but she pulled away because she had to go to the bathroom. As she came out, I tried again to give her a hug. But she was hot and had to change right away. I tried again, but still no luck. Can you tell I was the one who really needed the hug? LOL! I could tell she had been crying a little bit, but really, she was fine! And the child did not stop talking the entire rest of the day about how great school was!