By: Brenda Wilkerson
I had the most beautiful unexpected blessing when I was reunited with one of my bus babies and her momma from a previous school four years prior. We were so silly giddy to meet again at the school welcome meeting. Her first steps on my bus were as a timid kindergartener where we celebrated her very first lost tooth.
One September day, only halfway through our morning journey, my ears absorbed the wails of a hurting child. With quick glances back-and-forth between the road and my large rearview mirror, I began to ask the others who was crying and what was wrong. When one of the children replied that it was Scarlet, my heart skipped a beat. You see, Scarlet will be undergoing a kidney transplant soon. She has been in and out of school with dialysis and minor surgeries to keep her as healthy as possible and prepared for the surgery this spring.
The kids tried their best to tend to her, but the wailing didn’t stop. It was the longest two minutes and two pickups of my life to find a safe place to pull over. I quickly hit the hazards, put the bus in neutral, pulled the brake, unbuckled and rushed back to see what was wrong with her. Through her tears and sobs, she communicated that she just had another minor surgery yesterday and the bus was too bumpy.
I gently got her moved to the very front seat next to me and gave her a piece of scratch off art paper to keep her mind occupied until we got her to the school. Calling her mom, we made a plan to continue the route to get her to school and into the nurse, because that would be faster than her mama waking up her two babies and coming to get her within the route somehow. She also revealed that no matter what Scarlet is going through this year, she loves school and insists on riding our bus.
Lord, touch my Scarlet in a special healing way today. May we all find the strength, willpower, grit, and love for life like Scarlet today! Amen!
By: Brenda Wilkerson
