My youngest son, James, qualified for Sun Bucks. This is a countrywide “summer” program that puts money on a snap (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or summer snap card. We received a letter in June that he qualified, and we should wait for the next letter. That came in August, ironically right as school started. Same words. Wait. Sun Bucks will be distributed through October.

The last I heard, Pennsylvania is slowly rolling the program out, alphabetically by county. Good news for Allegheny and Beaver Counties, but not so much for the rest of us.

When I go food shopping, I scan the card. It doesn’t work. My older son, Erick, rolls his eyes. I don’t mind waiting, though it would’ve been nice to have the funds when I was packing James’ camp lunches, because he likes his food hot, and the camp only had cold lunches. Since both my boys like hot lunches, I already know to get the thermos made for hot food, fill it with boiling water while I cook the food, then dry it out and fill it immediately with the hot food.

My only real objection is the name of the program. Instead of Sun Bucks, maybe they should’ve been called Fall Bucks, or even Halloween Bucks. Or maybe BOO Bucks, though I think that one might be trademarked.

The beginning of the year has been harder than I expected. I ended up taking two sick days, because I underestimated how physical the job would be this year, and picked up a lot of extra work from job two. My autoimmune disease flared up miserably. Still, I belong to an online group for people with the disease, and a two-day flare up is actually minor. I wish I could agree.

One good thing came out of it though. I was able to watch my youngest’s bus pull up, and the driver honked to get my ADHD boy’s attention. I am thankful for the Bethlehem Area School District bus and van drivers. They are awesome.