I can ride a bicycle

It was Christmas morning of 1998, I had been up all night in eager anticipation of every child’s favorite day of the year, Christmas. Nowadays, Christmas is about family, good food, and a break from the stressful situations of college. However, back then it was about one thing, presents. I had been waiting for months for this morning it was the morning when all my desires would be fulfilled and I would get everything I could ever want, until my birthday at least. After waiting, what seemed to me, as all night, my parents finally told me and my sister we could come out of our rooms and open up our presents.

                 Storming out of my room and down the stairs, I hardly noticed the colorfully wrapped presents or the many Christmas decorations that adorned our living room. My focus was on one thing, the shiny bicycle sitting in the very center of the room. I had never owned a bike before but, seeing the cool fourth and fifth graders ride them to my school every morning had made a bicycle the pinnacle of my eight year old desires. Over the course of the next hour, I impatiently waited as my parent and little sister opened up the rest of the Christmas presents. I had one thing on my mind, to get out and ride my bike. Finally after what seemed like the whole morning, my parents told me I could go outside and try out my bike.

                I had been waiting for this moment for so long. I was the first of my friends to have a bike so, I had never ridden one. I could just imagine the looks on my friends’ faces when I pedaled up to their house on my new bike instead of walking like they had to. During this daydreaming, I had wheeled my bike to the center of our driveway so I would have a clear path for my first bike ride. I lined up the bike so that it was pointing directly at the end of my drive way and swung one leg over the bike. Holding my balance, I placed one foot on the pedal. Pushing down on the pedal, to get the bike going, I picked my other foot of the ground, prepared to ride forward. However, the moment I took my foot of the ground I lost my balance and promptly fell off the bike and onto my face.

                For the next week, I refused to even try to ride the bike again. It was not possible to do. In all my daydreaming of getting my own bicycle, I had failed to even think about the fact I would have to learn how to ride it. To make matters even worse, two of my friends had also received bicycles for Christmas and learned to ride them within the week. I was furious. I would see them riding around the neighborhood, while I could only walk. However, I still hadn’t built up the courage to try riding it again.

                At the end of the week, my dad came home from work and said he had a present for me. He told me to come out to the garage and see what it was. Naturally I hurried out to see what present I could possibly be getting so soon after Christmas. There in the garage was my bike. However it was different. On both sides of the back wheel was an extra set of wheels. I had gotten training wheels on my bike. With a little encouragement, my dad persuaded me to try to ride it again.

                With the little extra confidence the training wheels gave me, I once again mounted my bike in our drive way. I placed one foot on the ground and the other on the pedal, as I had done previously. In this position, I sat for several minutes brooding on the result of my last attempt to ride the bicycle. Finally, I plucked up the courage and kicked off, to ride down the street. This time was different; I shakily pedaled several times, going almost fifteen yards before eventually losing momentum and falling off. Even though I had fallen off, I had actually ridden the bike! From this point on I was not afraid anymore.

                Over the next several weeks, I was able to ride farther and farther distances until I was rarely falling ever. It was at this point, I realized that learning to ride a bike was a major step in my childhood. I was no longer confined to the walking distance of my neighborhood. I could ride to school. I could ride to the store. I could ride to my friends. Learning to ride a bike didn’t just give me a source of entertainment. It gave me my first real sense of independence.