Cookies the Way to a Bus Driver's Heart

I have a short update about the bus driver situation. Some readers might remember our first days of school, which were filled with LOVE for our new bus driver. He was everything the girls could have dreamed for a bus driver: nice, fun, sweet... Our first couple weeks of school were filled with bus stories, and we were all happy. As a show of appreciation for bus driver #1, I made him some cookies, which the girls told me the following week were still on the bus. Hmmm, didn't like cookies? or didn't trust me??

Enter: new bus driver. Older man, nice smile, but gruff and with boundries. As our first week came to a close, the verdict was not so great. The kids were saying he was the worst bus driver ever, that he was no fun, they had to sit in the front of the bus with their eyes forward at all times. After learning he was a former Navy Seal, the pieces of this story were slowly coming together! ;-) Lately, however, the kids seem to have softened to this bus driver, or at least they haven't complained. For parents, there is something to say about consistency and knowing your kids are safe, and we could not complain about either.

Enter: cookies. Last Friday I spent the day making two batches of cookies. We had cookies coming out of our ears!!! As I ran out to the bus stop in the afternoon, I put together a small bag of cookies that I delivered as the kids were stepping off the bus. I thought it would make a nice Friday afternoon treat. On Monday morning, the bus driver pulled up and called me over. He said, "I want to thank you for those cookies last week. My wife died last year and it's been a whole year since I've had anything like that! I just wanted you to know how much I appreciated them." Well, that does it. I don't think the 5 families he serves in this neighborhood will have any trouble putting together some weekend grub for this bus driver anymore!