6 Kids, 3 cats, 1 dog, Mom, and Dad

Time on the bus or When I was your age.

Miss Marisol wrote about a bad school bus memory so I thought I'd share some of mine.

First of all, you either caught the bus or you walked to school. For many years my parents had one car and even if they had 100, you missed the bus you either walked or rode your bike to school.

For the most part, if you wanted to go anywhere you walked, rode your bike, or hoped someone else's parents would be willing to supply the ride. I can recall walking four miles to the high school for play practice in a snowstorm because my ride there got sick. I trudged through the snow and got there to find all the cars leaving because of the snow. Nobody was going my way so I turned around a walked back home. The only concern, on my parent's part, was whether I got home on time or not.

Anyway, the bus ride for me was pure hell until I got into high school. Why? Because my Younger Sister would torment me and beat me up. I'd end up getting off of the bus half way home and walking the rest of the way. She'd beat me home and lock all the doors so I had to resort to breaking a pane of glass in the 9-pane door in order to get in the house. I bought those panes of glass by the dozen since I had to replace the broken glass.

The summer after my 8th grade year I started to grow. My sister and I were on our front lawn and she came running at me. She would throw me to the ground and hit me. If I hit her back I got in trouble for hitting a girl. This time, I stepped to the side, grabbed the back of her neck, and pushed her to the ground.

She got up, fuming mad, and made another run at me with the same results. I ran a short distance and turned around as she came running at me again. I had seen a move on some TV show and decided to give it a try...I grabbed both of her outstretched arms, planted my foot in her stomach as I fell back to the ground, and then flipped her over my head. She hit the ground with a resounding thud.

As she lay there trying to get back her breath I walked into the house and got a drink of water. The physical bullying ended that day but she still did her best to make my life miserable from an emotional and social standpoint. Fortunately, I had a year's headstart at high school to make friends and find my niche before having to deal with her again.