One More Mommy

Thoughts of a mom and her husband, son, daughter, pets, friends, job (or lack thereof), house, family, trying to be more ecologically aware...

Friday, November 04, 2005

Mom-spective

As I've said, we live in the suburbs of Chicago. Good schools, family oriented, that 1950's American Dream image. We certainly don't buy into that, though, and I sometimes wonder what it would be like to raise children in the city. How would their perspectives change? How would mine?

But I think that family focus would not be as prevalent in the city.

The other day as I drove home on a four lane divided road, headed north, a school bus stopped as it headed south. There were a number of cars on my side of the road, and we stopped, eyeing that school bus. I looked around at my fellow drivers as we sat there, and I noticed a young kid, likely 16 or 17, getting mouthy in the car next to me.

Reading his lips, I could tell that he was ranting because we were on a divided road, we didn't have to stop for this school bus! He may have honked.

I looked at the other drivers, the four that I could see, and we were all looking patiently and expectantly at that school bus, waiting for the children to finish hopping out. I don't know that all of those adults were parents, but being older than 16 or 17, they were unconcerned with waiting for children to get off the bus, and we all wanted to be certain that no child was doing something unpredictable. Because children do things, like suddenly run, or turn around, or bend over to pick something up, because they're children.

And this teenager ranted beside me, no doubt right in that we didn't HAVE to stop for this bus. I'm sure he took his driving test far more recently than the other five of us waiting. But he didn't have the perspective that we all have gained over the years or through parenthood. That we'd rather wait and keep an eye on those kids than get to the store or home a minute earlier.

I lived in the city for a year, and I drive in the city. I love Chicago, but when it comes to driving? People in the city drive like lunatics. Not that they don't ever drive like lunatics in the suburbs, but the ratios are a little better.

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