You Never Forget How to Ride a Bike

That saying isn’t true. I am here to tell you that you can forget how to ride a bike. I remember being a preteen, laughing at my mom as she wobbled unsteadily on my 10-speed in our rock-covered driveway, unsure how to balance herself anymore. Not even minutes earlier, she was wondering aloud, “How hard can it be? I used to ride a bike everywhere when I was a kid”.

Apparently pretty hard.

She gave it a good try and I appreciated the effort, and the laugh, but she never made it with both feet on the pedals. Defeated and embarrassed, she passed the handlebars back to me as I gathered myself assuredly on top of the gold-sparkled blue banana boat seat and took off. A kid sure to never forget how it feels to have my feet carry my body through the wind.

I think I remember how to ride a bike. But your mind, it plays tricks on you. There’s no way of knowing until you try.

Life is unexpected and I’ve been thrown off this past year. Everything that I had known previously isn’t what I thought. I’m unsure and unbalanced. It’s so easy to lose myself in everything I’ve lost, but I still have what’s important. And even though I’m trying my best to push through, I might need a bit of help, even if I’m a little defeated at first. I’m ready to feel the wind again.

Maybe this will be the year I get back up and ride. It should be. And if I don’t know how to steady myself anymore, I’ll learn again. It’s time to get both feet on the pedals. I think today is a good day to start.

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