Oregon Adventures XVII

Our Bus Adventure

When we first arrived in Salem, Oregon, I purchased some bus tickets for us to use sometime.  One day a couple of weeks ago, I packed some hot cocoa and snacks, a jacket for everyone and off we went.  It's a half mile to the bus stop from our house and despite my rushing everyone, we still missed the first bus.  So, we sat at the stop, sipping our cocoa and 15 minutes later, our bus arrived.

Ezra needed rain boots, so that was our mission, to get good quality unisex rainboots that all three would eventually wear.  We were going from the bottom of the bus line to the very tippy top to an REI (outdoor supply store).  What normally would take 20 minutes to drive by car would now take one hour.  Isn't that fun?

We got the boots uneventfully and shared some pizza for lunch, then decided to head back.  The kids were loving the bus rides sooo much they begged to stop anywhere else, just to get off and on again and make the adventure last longer.  I agreed we could stop to get some milk since we were out.  The first grocery store that had a stop near it was LifeSource, our favorite health food grocery store.  I settled for a half gallon when I remembered the prices and then Ezra reminded me that his two week waiting period was up for spending his savings on something.  Two weeks before he had requested two six packs of a special pop they carry at LifeSource (I can't recall it's name, but it only has sugar in it, no artificial flavors or corn syrup).  We make them wait two weeks to use their savings to distinguish it from their spending money and to make them think about whether they really want whatever it is or not.  We also don't buy pop unless there's a party.  So, he really wanted this and was using his own money.  

That's when everything changed.  I felt this wetness on my lower back, I looked and I was covered in hot cocoa, which was dripping out of the backpack I was wearing, down the lower back of my shirt and top of my jeans.  Upon inspection, the last person who had drank cocoa, had not closed the lid and had replaced it in the backpack upside down.  We had no vehicle and I looked like I had pooped my pants...at the health food store.  It was perhaps a second after this realization that I saw the first person I knew.  It was that person who has only seen me repeatedly blundering in life for whatever reason: Late for something because we got lost; out of gas and at a gas station that you have to have a membership from online to get gas (yes, they have those here!), and so on.  There was nothing to do but incredulously explain what happened.  The person laughed as if, "That's so typical for you!" and walked away.  I realized they were right and after putting the sopping backpack into a garbage bag that a kind store employee provided me, I headed to the bathroom.  Thankfully, inside the backpack, my jacket was on top and hadn't gotten drenched in hot cocoa and I tied it around my waist covering the questionable stains.  

In hindsight, I'm not sure why we spent so long at the store after that, looking up and down every aisle.  Perhaps, I was processing it all or playing it cool, or most likely, trying to convince the kind store employees that were were there to spend money, not cause trouble.  A lady from church was on her lunch break and we chit-chatted.  I would have told her about the problem on my backside if she hadn't been in a hurry, it was just as well.  With my jacket being white, I worried it would soak up the cocoa and show through, but alas I was ok.  We checked out and headed to the bus stop.  The buses were much more full on the way home and Ez and June sat toward the back while I sat with Phoebe in an open seat toward the front.  

Twenty minutes later we got to our stop (again, this would have been seven minutes in a car) and started walking the half mile toward home with the plastic garbage bag containing the messy backpack in one hand and the paper bag from LifeSource in the other, both too heavy for the kids to help with.  The milk, the two six packs of black cherry pop and impulse egg rolls in it got heavy fast and in readjusting, the handles broke.  I tied them together again and gritted my teeth as I led the kids home, tremendously thankful I had only purchased a half gallon of milk.

This is a picture of the last time I wore this shirt, the cocoa stains did not come out (it actually got dried in the dryer by accident before getting checked - another fail).  The pop is gone now, the boots are great, and the kids still beg to go on another bus adventure soon and I'm open, but we will leave the thermos and cocoa behind.