When the alarm clock goes off, it's best to get out of bed

Why is it that the best sleep of the night comes between the time you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock and the time you wake up and realize you might not make it to your bus on time?

That's what happened to me this past Monday morning. I was having a great dream (Rated G, of course), when I popped out of bed and realized I should be popping out the door.

I got to Bus No. 6 just as I should have been leaving, and found my door closed shut because I slammed it too hard the afternoon before. So, I had to crawl in the back (which is no easy feat for a guy my age) and finally got the thing cranked up when I remembered I had meant to be at the bus early because I was practically out of fuel.

There was only one thing for me to do -- I got down on my knees and prayed to the Bus Gods to let me squeeze another 50-mile route out of my almost-empty tank. I even promised if I made it, I would start sweeping up the trash in the afternoons and maybe wash the windshield every now and then.

Luckily, I made it back to the school with a couple of ounces to spare.

The moral of the story is this: Twenty minutes of blissful sleep is not worth the chance of being stranded on the side of the road with a bunch of screaming kids because you ran out of fuel. Besides, then you have to face your fellow bus drivers. Oh, they may not say anything to your face, but you can see the laughter in their eyes.