Admit it. Even if your carpool days are long over, we all remember the Carpool Rules. In fact some of us still have nightmares about the public shame cast upon those belligerents who broke them. Some may even have spent time in the Principal's Office cutting out Hall Passes. Somewhere, tucked in our Pertinent Records Files, we have pamphlets marked IMPORTANT INFORMATION For Your Child's Graduation, the introductions of which begin with Carpool Rules -
"No Stopping",
"Stay in Line",
"Do NOT Stop",
"Keep Going",
"Don't Stop",
"Drive Ahead",
"Stop ONLY to Release Child",
"Do not Pass",
"Release Child Immediately",
"Move Ahead",
"Move Along",
"Park at Rear of Maintenance Building Only",
"Slow Down - DO NOT STOP."
Recently an alarming, yet extraordinary event occurred in a Hampton Roads School parking lot, worthy of reporting.Unashamed and undeterred by fifty cars of ball capped-ponytailed bedecked Moms, grimacing and muttering unmentionables, with short passengers strapped in the rear, one Bold Mom dressed in a red rain jacket, yellow rubber boots, and an orange and blue ball cap (hardly noticeable at all), not only stopped her van, but PARKED it in line! Before the Carpool Nazis could blow their whistles and befuddled drivers check their text messages, she jumped out of said van to assist her distraught child with his school project, a cardboard model of the Empire State Building.
This Mom did THE RIGHT THING by saving the lives and mornings of dozens of unknowing, rather indignant Moms who possibly avoided an accident or an exceptionally long line at Starbucks. The Mom, as brave as a lioness with her cub, selflessly halted her vehicle in the Carpool Line, risking her volunteer status, gym membership, drivers license, and her Starbucks Rewards Card, not to mention losing her Carpool privileges, to rescue her child and save the Empire State Building.
This courageous woman deserves a good night's sleep and a ride to school tomorrow in time for her hearing. Yes, she did THE RIGHT THING!