Feeling Better

Daisy had a much better day and night, and we are thankful for that.

So a funny thing happened yesterday.

I take Zoe to kindergarten and Teddy to pre-school each morning by pulling them in a bicycle trailer. This makes us quite the oddity in our little town, as it probably would most anywhere in the U.S.

A small percentage of the children take the school bus, and an even smaller percentage walk. The rest of the masses drop their kids off in a carbon-monoxide filled crush of double parked SUVs.

Although I have read the school rules, which state that "no bicycles shall be ridden on campus" or something like that, I have made it a habit to ride the almost deserted campus sidewalk, near the bus drop-off area to the kindergarten area, albeit slowly and carefully. I justified this rule breaking to myself by telling myself it was a silly rule written by people who never rode their bikes, and I was breaking the rule in protest.

The temperature was hovering around freezing yesterday morning, which in California is really cold, so no one else was braving the elements but me. As I rode by the empty, running school bus, my two little ones safely covered in the cocoon of the trailer, out popped a sour faced, grumpy little woman from the open doors.

"You can't ride that thing through here!"

I smiled at her and replied, "I'm riding in protest to that rule." I had been waiting to use that line ;)

She yelled, taking me back a bit, "We'll see what the principal has to say!" And she took off jogging for the office.

I was surprised to say the least, but continued to the classroom and off-loaded my daughter. As I got ready to continue on with Teddy strapped back in place, I saw the principal coming my way.

She is a very nice lady, and I knew she would be reasonable. She explained it was her job to enforce the rules. I told her I was fine with that, but that for the record, I found the rule to be discriminatory towards the few people who were doing something about the congestion and air pollution around the school.

I admit I went off on a bit of a rant about how people who don't ever put a leg over a bicycle find it so easy to lay down rules in the name of safety that don't affect them. She was very patient with me.

Today I rode the bike and trailer in with the cars, choosing to follow the rules while plotting to have them changed to suit my crazy alternative lifestyle. As I pulled up, I glanced over my shoulder and saw that nutty bus driver woman, waiting for me to come down the sidewalk through her territory, so she could go tell on me again.