stolen bikes ride faster

today was the perfect summer day.
slept in a bit.
but not too late.
went out last night.
but didn't feel it in the morning.

went to rock-rock-rockaway beach with my roommate. beautiful weather. you could see all the way to your feet when in the water. not too hot, not too windy.

got in a conversation about bikes on the way home. i remembered why i stopped riding, even though my dad has always been an obsessive bike rider, going 50 miles one way during his divorce when i was living at my grandparents. buying a one-way ticket to bike around europe instead of going to college.

my first day of sixth grade i got hit by a car. riding my bike while my grandma and sister were walking a couple blocks behind me. it wasn't bad. my bike basically bent in half. i was still on it. bruised and totally shell-shocked. the woman driving said she ran the light because she was "on her way to a funeral". classic.

my uncle lived around the corner and happened to be driving the opposite way down the same street. saw me and the lady arguing just after it happened. my grandma still hadn't caught up to where i was. uncle sean mediated the situation. i was really shaken up. and pissed my pink huffy bike with flower decals was all screwed up. the cops were called. insurance claims. blah blah blah...

i got a lecture on bike safety. this was before making kids wear helmets was standard practice. at grandma's later my friend sherry came by to "see if i wanted to go ride bikes". needless to say the answer was "she can't!"

and i couldn't for a year after. they, (my grandma, dad, stepmom and mom), collectively decided not to replace the pink bike that wasn't really "me" to begin with.

got a new bike a year later. was petrified to ride it.

just like years later i would be terrified to drive after getting in a head-on collision ending with me being cut out of my horizon with the jaws of life.

my point is...if your kid, or hypothetical future kid, crashes her bike, replace it the next day.

let her ride the bike, drive the car, whatever. giving her time to obsess over why she crashed and why she's going to crash again just builds up the fear of trying new things. and fear of repeating whatever activity caused the accident.

i'm currently trying to decide what kind of bike to buy...

for my uncle sean
for being my dad's cooler little brother.
for saving me from that mean lady who rammed her car into me.

post script...
"this is a time
in my life
where everything
is falling apart
and at the same time
it's all
coming together"