The safety patrol

'Today's my 10th anniversary as a school crossing guard!' the lady in the middle of the street yelled at me. She's on my early morning walking route, stopping traffic at the busy intersection for the elementary school children and me to cross the street safely.

Seeing her in the yellow vest and white cross straps marking the safety patrol took me back to my days on the safety patrol. This was an honor we could apply for in the 5th and 6th grades. And such an honor it was to be chosen to be in the select few.

The rewards were my draw to be there. Forget that I had to be there at o dark early to suit up to begin. After duty we got to go to the corner drug store and get orange juice on a hot morning and hot chocolate on a cold morning. We got to look important wearing the cross straps. We stopped traffic, including buses.

And the best part was that we got to be late to school.