Being vulnerable is a hard thing to do sometimes. Admitting that we failed, and admitting that we were afraid. I was the baby of the family. The Last of the Mohicans, I mean McCarter's. Therman and Nova's last child at home. It was a great position to be in.
The problem with being the baby is, I wasn't very tough. I had no siblings my age to fight with. If I wanted to play with a toy, I could play with it, without having to get in a fight over it. I needed more toughness and that is where my brother, Richard enters the story.
He was going to help me learn to ride a bike. I use the term, learn, pretty loosely. His job was to give me a shove down the hill. It was a big hill, I thought, for an inexperienced bike rider. I was able to go about twenty yards before I had a crash and burn. Needless to say, this did not motivate me to want to ride a bike. That is part of the reason, I didn't learn to ride my bike until I was nine.
I was nine years old before I learned to ride a bike. My son, Jordan was riding a bike before he went to kindergarten. He was tough. He had to fight with his brother and sister to survive in life. lol
The crazy thing about me and bike riding is that I still do it. I love it. I have rode my bike across the state of Kansas, rode on the Great Ohio bicycle adventure twice and Ragbrai once. Jeremy, Jordan, and Heather have all went on these adventures with me at different times.
Maybe if I had learned sooner, I would not have kept riding. I'm not going to win any races but it is great exercise and I enjoy it. Maybe the title of this story should be Riding with Turtles. This was just an example of how hard it can be to learn to do something new and how enjoyable it can be after we master the basics.
Learning to master the basics is so important in everything you do. What if I never learned how to stop? I would probably still be crashing and burning like I did going down that hill. Be patient with yourself as you learn new stuff. It takes time to get up to speed. Keep on pedaling.
(This was the lost sock that mysteriously appeared in my sock drawer today.)