A Really Bad Awful Day... Until It Wasn't

The day started bad and was getting worse. After the Eastwood Cross Country team got off the bus for a meet at Mary Jane Thurston State Park in Grand Rapids, we were immediately engulfed in mosquitoes, absolute swarms of them. It was hot-way too hot for September, but we warmed up anyway, some wearing sweats in the 88° heat to keep away the bugs. After waiting for what seemed forever for the middle school races, finally our races came.  After running through the water, the muck, and the heat, trying to ignore the mosquitoes, and for the most part running not particularly well, there came a couple of disqualifications for wrong turns, and some not-so-pleasant words from the coach. We were hot, frustrated, angry, and bug-infested. It was really time to go home.

So we loaded all our wet, tired bodies, with our wet, stinking clothes, onto the bus, and headed home. Ten miles later, it got worse yet. Just a few miles out of Grand Rapids, the bus came to a very sudden stop. It didn't smell real nice either. No matter what the driver tried, the bus just wouldn't go. For some reason, the brakes had locked up, and they had no intention of releasing. A man on a motorcycle stopped to see if he could help, but unless he could carry 45 kids on the back, there wasn't much he could do. So the bus supervisor was called, and he said he would send another bus, but it was going to be a while. Everyone was hot, tired, frustrated (especially the runners who had been disqualified) and we all just wanted to get home.

 Then just when it seemed it couldn't get any worse, everything changed. The kids got out of the bus and sat in the grass on the side of the road. The adults were grumbling, as adults usually do. But one of the girls saw the pond that just happened to be right by the bus, went to the house nearby, and found the woman who owned it.

"Can we?” was the question. "Sure, no problem!" was the response.

So the bad, awful, day quickly became a vacation, as one hot, tired kid after another took refuge in the cool pond. A party atmosphere quickly developed, complete with picture taking, mud fights, and dives, all recorded for posterity on video,

But then it got even better. The man on the motorcycle reappeared, this time driving a car. He pulled out a cooler of bottled water, some pop, and a bunch of pizzas. The kids ran from the pond and scarfed down the pizza and beverages, just as the replacement bus came. The angel with the pizzas never did leave his name, but his actions helped make a really bad afternoon into, as one girl said. "One of the best things that ever happened to us!" The man only said that he had kids too, and the smiles were all the thanks he needed.

 As we drove home, watching the kids laughing and smiling, it occurred to me how the simple actions of a few people made a bad night very memorable for a bunch of kids from another school district. There was the woman who let us swim, the man with the pizzas, and a few law enforcement officers who directed traffic and let it all happen. Their choices helped make a really bad awful day a whole lot better.

 So whoever you are, we all say thank you. It was a day we will not forget!