Walking to school as an underclassmen was very burdensome at times. Waking up early was only part of it. I would have to make sure my hair was dry so that it wouldn’t freeze on the way to school in the winter, and had to drag along pounds of extra jackets and sports bags along with me, too. About a mile into the walk, however, I’d see FCCPS crossing guard Bill Abel dancing on the side of Haycock Road, directing traffic with the swaying of his hips and swinging of his arms, and just like that, all my problems were no longer.
“Good morning! Have a great day,” he would exclaim.
These interactions seem small, but they make a world of a difference to your morning and overall mood.
“Having the first thing I saw before I walked into school be a friendly face really set up my day to be a happy one,” Clara Matton said, a senior who used to walk to school. “How can you not smile back when someone is that positive!”
I asked myself the same thing. I could not understand how someone could remain so joyful and full of energy through such a repetitive job that often involves freezing temperatures.
“It’s just my personality,” he said. “It’s what keeps me there. It would be a mundane job if I didn’t enjoy this at all.”
Abel, whose three kids have graduated from Mason, has worked as a crossing guard with the Falls Church Police Department for 11 years now. He begins his shifts at 7:30 a.m. on Haycock Road to stop traffic for students walking to the high school and middle school and then does the same thing at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School (TJ). At 3 p.m. he returns to the schools to direct traffic as students walk home.
I spent a morning with Abel and his partner, Audrey Luthman, to get a sense of what the job looks like. Luthman, who has served as a crossing guard since 1971, greeted students as they walked by and complemented their outfits, meanwhile Abel, on the other side of the road, threw namaste signs at oncoming student drivers he recognized and commented on student’s bikes as they drove by.
“He’s a total nut job,” Luthman said about his dancing. “He’s always there to uplift everybody. He’s one of those happy-go-lucky guys.”
Clearly he didn’t know me well enough, but that was beside the point. Students and parents know him as the 5’7 man with baggy crossing guard gear, a cap and a yellow highlighter mesh penny on top, but at any other time of the day he would be unrecognizable. In fact, I even had trouble myself finding him throughout the crowd of people at the Rare Bird Café, since he was wearing ‘normal clothes’- a red three quarter fleece jacket with jeans and a black cap.
“I teach yoga first thing in the morning, then I change into my crossing guard uniform, then I’m back practicing yoga, then I change into my clothes for the art studio. I go back to crossing guard clothes, I teach two more classes, then I’m back home at 9 p.m. and go to bed,” he said.
He first referred to himself as a hamster ball, always moving and bumping into things. “It’s a little chaotic. I’m more like a pinball machine,” he corrected himself.
Could this constant movement be the key to fostering such a positive attitude? I thought my own schedule was hectic, with school and extracurriculars going on. I guess I’m just doing it wrong.
Teaching yoga at Dancing Mind Studio, practicing yoga on his own, and working at Art and Frame of Falls Church, where he does his own watercolor paintings, virtually provides Abel with a lifestyle of zen. Though I soon learned that it wasn’t always that way.
“It’s been a journey for me,” he said. Abel began teaching yoga three years ago, after deciding to make a change in his life following his divorce. Yoga helped him get out of a period of self-regret and self-loathing, according to his bio on the Dancing Mind website.
It was a long process of getting out of his element and into another frame of mind. The years of practice under a rigorous teaching program elevated him to take care of himself and made him realize how important mental and physical health was to him.
Abel praises the idea of letting go in yoga, getting rid of limiting beliefs, and trusting yourself again. I learned about the various types of yoga, including Baptiste yoga, the form that he teaches with emphasis on breath. Abel also teaches Power Sculpt at Dancing Mind, that mixes weights and strength training with yoga.
“You’re working really hard but you don’t notice it – he’s so chill about it,” Matton said, a member of the Dancing Mind studio. “He does the usual gratefulness and awareness things, but you can see how that translates into his everyday life because he’s very composed and calm but also happy.”
His decision to shift the dynamic of his life took him all over the world. Abel attended a number of yoga instructing courses in California and Arizona, as well as motivational conferences to make this change in his life.
“Have you ever heard of Tony Robbins?” he asked. “He’s a crazy motivational speaker. Look him up, he’s got a big voice and big head. He fills auditoriums with ten thousand people and it’s just four days of screaming, trying to get you too be your strongest and best self.”
This was one of many recommendations he gave me throughout the interview. He also referred me to Insight Timer, a free meditation app that contains guided meditations, music tracks, talks and courses.
“I’ve always been a self help book person,” he said. “I’m always in the self help book section of Barnes & Noble.”
Teaching yoga, Abel said on his bio, gives him the opportunity give back to the community and to uplift and inspire others, though the same could be said about all the jobs he has done. Before becoming a crossing guard, Abel was a paraprofessional teacher at TJ and a stay at home dad. He also taught art at an elementary school in Florida, where he is originally from.
Not having an idea of what he wanted to do when he was younger sounds blundering to him now, especially after graduating with a degree in biology and never using it. But according to Abel, going with what felt right to him in each moment is what saved him.
“It’s not about knowing it all. It’s not about things you say, it’s about actions you take. They speak louder than words, and when you speak from the heart, the heart of other people listen,” he said.
These revelations contribute to Abel’s various stages of life, proving that it is never too late to make a change. He did it at the age of 50, after years of being a stay at home dad and working part time, and has experienced a world of difference since then.
“It’s really just rediscovery of what matters most to you,” he said.
As I scrolled through Abel’s Dancing Mind bio, I saw that he quoted Baron Baptiste, the founder of the type of yoga he taught, who said, “Aligned with the power of love in your heart, you will be a gift to yourself and to the world,” and that pretty much said it all.
His entire life involves love, in some shape or form. Whether it is with his work at the yoga or art studio, his three children, or his few hundred other children that he helps cross the street every day, Abel is always radiating love and joy that has shown to become utterly contagious. It is what has helped him get through a number of difficulties in the past, what currently helps students get through their day at school, and what will certainly help him as he continues to cross through several stages of life.
