"Letting Go"
I
can remember getting my first bike for Christmas. I remember poking my head in
the family room and seeing it for the first time. You don't forget things like
that. I can still see my Dad running alongside me on my bike making sure I didn't
fall. Well, needless to say, I fell ... many times. After I got my Schwinn
Stingray with the banana seats and the high rise handlebars I was always coming home
with cuts or road rash from falls I had taken. I can remember building ramps so
my friends and I could jump our bikes over whatever we decided to put after the
ramp, usually garbage cans, tires, or ourselves. I don't know why, but we
thought it was the ultimate act of bravery to lie down on the ground and let
your friend jump his bike over you. I never said I was a very bright kid. For
most kids getting a bike is the first time they feel like they have a certain
amount of freedom. As for the parents, giving a bike is the first time they
feel, in a very small way, that they are letting go.
By the way, the father in this drawing is my younger brother Mark. The girl is his oldest daughter Julia.
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