News from The Stop

For the last two years, the peeps and I have been standing at the bus stop all by our lonesome. Just me and the peeps at the corner. I have always been jealous of the stories Craftier told me of how the other moms gather at her bus stop every morning, planning lunches together, telling stories (doesn't that sound better than gossipping?), and generally solving the world's problems.

Not me.

I've been standing at the corner in my grubbies, holding a cup of coffee, watching people pass in their cars on the way to Big City and, in my imagination, big lives. (I know many of them would rather be standing on the corner in their grubbies, too, but how many days in a row can a college-educated Chick do this without feeling that she has somehow not full-filled her potential? But that's a whole other post.)

Then, this summer, two new families moved into the neighborhood -and here's the bonus - they have elementary-aged peeps who now stand at our bus stop. It's become known as "the Stop". It's an all-out social event every morning. (I even brush my teeth, which was never a requirement before.) And on Friday, the dads go into work late (or not at all), so they all gather at The Stop as well. There are so many of us standing out there it looks like a community meeting on the corner.

The people in the cars even slow down to see what's going on.

The afternoon pickup is packed as well. The moms, siblings and sometimes pets wait for the bus to arrive. We review the day, talk about evening plans and swap sub-contractor info (it's hard to find good trades).

One of the families has the cutest little boy, Blue Eyes, who is about 4 years old. He sometimes rides his bike down to my house to pick me up to go to the Stop in the afternoon. He is a ball of personality and just the cutest.

At the Stop yesterday, Blue Eyes' mother, Frenchy, told a story about a trip to the drug store with Blue Eyes. They were standing in the checkout line and Blue Eyes starts going on about how the girl on the magazine cover looks like me. Then there was a photo on another cover of the same girl and he insists that she looks like me, trying to get his mother to agree. Of course, Frenchy is looking around to see the look on the other patron's faces. Most were astonished that there would be a look-alike of this person right here in Little Town.

This story obviously had me hooked. I have been compared to Julia Roberts in the past (when my hair had a red tint to it), and Big Daddy says Kristin Davis (plays Charlotte York character in Sex and the City) reminds him of me. I, of course, have always wanted to be compared to Audrey Hepburn, but there's little chance of that happening. And there's an even smaller chance of me being compared to the covergirl Blue Eyes says that I look like - click here. I would need serious plastic surgery to "stack up" to that....if ya know what I mean. God love the innocent eyes of a child. (And yes, Blue Eyes knows he has an open invitation to Fireside for homemade cookies and milk.)