Yesterday...not so much fun

Yesterday started off just like any other. We got up, cleaned a little bit, played a little bit, watched some cartoons... you know, the normal daily stuff when you have little ones still at home. Emma's school bus usually drops her off around 3:35 and she walks through the door around 3:45. It's NEVER later than that. I usually find myself watching for her from the upstairs window. Yesterday was the same. I was sitting upstairs waiting for the shock of red hair to come around the corner. Five minutes late...(maybe she stopped to look at the baby birds she was telling us about), ten minutes late... that little tingle of fear started to get a little stronger in pit of my stomach. She only has to walk for about a block and a half to get home from the bus stop but I've always been a little bit nervous about allowing her the freedom she wants by walking home by herself. Well, not REALLY by herself - there are other kids that ride the bus home too who also walk with her. At 3:55 I poked my head into Jeff's office (yes, he's actually in town this week!)and told him that I was worried and going to look for her. I got into the car, hoping that she'd just went to a friend's house without telling me. I could handle that. She'd get into trouble for her irresponsibility, but not too much. I drove down to the bus stop - no Emma, no kids at all. I pulled over and tried calling the school to see if she'd missed her stop again (she did that at the beginning of the year) no one was at the school! I called information to get the number of the bus company. My fear was then replaced with relief and then anxiety. You see, she was still on the bus. All of the kids were because the bus had been in a car accident. They couldn't bring the kids home until the police had released them. It ended up that Emma was dropped off almost an hour after she was supposed to be. I never want to have to go through such a long hour ever again.