I wanted a 10 speed bicycle.
It was a stupid idea.
As soon as my father bought it and we got it home I knew I had made the wrong decision.
Instant buyers regret.
What happened?
My next door neighbor rode up on his cool BMX style trick bike.
It was way cooler.
But that's not the reason I didn't want my new 10 speed 32 seconds after getting it home.
--
Up until the time I wanted the 10 speed I was the greatest wheelie world champion in the world.
I mean the world.
I had a hand me down Huffy with a bench seat and short peddles and I could ride a wheelie up and back down the street with such ease and control you'd think I was flying a jet airplane.
I was the man.
That Huffy was a heavy steel frame bike.
It wouldn't jump very far. Or high.
But wheelies?
All day.
--
Once I took that Huffy to the field in front of my house and rode the trails for hours.
In the mud.
When I got home I got beat because I was covered in muck - so much so my mom couldn't wash my clothes in the machine until she washed them by hand.
I don't know why she didn't make me wash them. I think she might have thought the beating was enough.
This was the same woman who chased me down with a broom.
A blue handled wooden broom.
When I slammed my door the handle left a long blue paint streak up the front of my door.
A constant reminder to try and stay on her good side.
Or at least, not venture over to her crazy side.
--
Well, I was tired of being a kid.
I was ready to grow up.
It was time to be serious.
I was going to be in 7th grade and when you change to the big school you do what everyone does at the big school.
You get big transportation.
Who knows where I got the idea that everyone in middle school was going to have a 10 speed.
Somehow I convinced my dad that day in SEARS that it was time for change.
That I was changing and was now a full fledged adult.
$89 later I had a new bike.
Turns out, you can pretty jealous of others when you lose your childish freedom.
--
The 10 speed couldn't do wheelies.
I couldn't jump on the 10 speed.
In fact, it was worse at jumping than the heavy steel clap I rode for so many years.
Sure, I could go further faster - but who cares! I still wanted to join my friends and have fun.
No one wanted to race anyhow.
I couldn't ride the 10 speed on the trails.
I couldn't get muddy and get a beating when I got home.
I couldn't do anything on the thing but ride on a road and switch gears.
I thought I wanted to grow up. All I did was limit my freedom.
I had less freedom because I had less fun.
I felt very much like an adult.
While all my friends were out riding and having fun, I was stuck in a cubicle.
--
Maybe that's why that lesson sunk in so deeply.
I never wanted to force myself to grow up again.
Who wants to limit their freedom?
Who chooses to have less fun in life?
No one wants it.
Everyone wants to just have a good time and enjoy the time they have while they have time.
Well, not everyone.
HAT TIP: You may not wake up tomorrow. It's not guaranteed.
That's a secret a lot of adults don't know.
They forgot how to live. Enjoy life.
That wasn't the last time I've made the "I'm growing up mistake".
I've done it a couple more times.
But each time I do I remember that first lesson and check myself.
--
It was 2 years later I got my first job flipping burgers. Beefy's.
Somehow I was able to save my money and buy a professional BMX trick bike.
$432 worth of professional.
Better than any anyone else had - except that one kid who always had something better than everyone else (he had the cranks no one else could afford).
I could do tail whips, cherry pickers, endos, wheelies, surf, jump, and just ride.
Get muddy.
With my friends.
A Return to Freedom.
And a reminder that not all open doors are an opportunity to something better.
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