Tuesday, September 23, 2008

An Ordinary Day at the Crossing

Today was so beautiful! I have a new camera, which, I'm sorry to say, won't cook my breakfast for me, but does do just about everything else you can think of, so I decided to practice with it while I was doing my crossing guard job. I thought it would give you another window into my thrilling life.

Here's the school. My sisters and I went there, and all my children, and my second son works there now as the art teacher. I've been the a.m. crossing guard there for 16 years, since my "baby" started first grade.
After grabbing my orange cone from inside the door, I head out toward the cross walk. I stand by the fence and wait for the kids.

Some come from this direction.......


.....but most come from this direction. It's still pretty early for most of them, but we do have a few who come for the breakfast program, so I need to be there just in case.

The buses start arriving. There will be quite a few of them. Our town, offers "schools of choice", which is a more natural way to integrate racially, because each family can choose whether to attend the closest neighborhood school, or send their children to another school in another neighborhood. This school is "over chosen", because it has such a good reputation.

The student patrol guards have arrived to help the children I cross safely cross the bus lane.


Here comes a group of my usual walkers! I cross about 30 children, and a few parents, every day.

The drop off lane is getting crowded!

Yep, that's roadkill. That's part of the job. This one had been there for a couple of days; it was getting a little ripe!

After the last bell rings, I stroll home past the now-quiet playground. You couldn't ask for nicer weather than we had today.
There, now wasn't that riveting reading!!

6 comments:

Green Bean said...

It is riveting reading. Community service is so important. I appreciate the bird's eye view into it.

Joyce said...

Thanks, GB. I don't know if you can really call it community service; I actually work for the police department, and, because they consider it dangerous work, it's paid fairly well. It was a job that worked really well for us when the children were in school, and then I kept it, because it fits with my church job and helping my parents out.

Rose said...

Congratulations on getting a new camera; enjoy playing with it to see what you can do. Stopping traffic is not an easy job--kudos to you for watching over the kids! And how neat that you are working at the same school you and your children attended.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing this! And how wonderful that you are working at the same school that you and your children attended! Your pictures are priceless - enjoy that new camera!

Anonymous said...

I'm just getting around to reading a bunch of your posts, so sorry this is so late! But honestly, I appreciated this one =) I think of it as "An Hour in the Life of Joyce". It helps me/us get to know you better! True friends talk to each other about everything from the mundane tasks of life to the huge changes and everything in between! Even though I don't know you IRL I consider you a friend =) Thanks for giving me/us a window into your day! PS - my word verification starts w/spy - I do feel like I spy on people when I read their blogs or FB entries!

Joyce said...

DramaMamma-Isn't it strange how well we get to know each other through these blogs? I talk about my blog friends, and some people don't get that, but it's amazingly true. FB just augments the windows into each other's thoughts. Now, for the Illini-Badger match-up!