I am sitting on the patio of our family’s favorite restaurant. I took the afternoon off, and I am impressed with how much I did with a single afternoon off. I am sipping a glass of cheap bubbly that is my special celebration drink here at our family’s favorite place. Music is playing softly on the outdoor speaker behind me. Right now, it is Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of Mine.
Let’s rewind to more than six months ago.
Having parented a child through the high school years, there are a few things that I know. One of which is the fact that high school is a child’s first transition into independence. The ability to stay after school to go to an after-school activity or hang out with friends, without having to coordinate with parents, is an important part of being a high school student. We lived much closer to the school when Brainy Bird started high school. He could walk or ride his bike; he much preferred to ride his bike.
We are now a bike ride away, but it is too far to walk. Little Chirp and I went back and forth about the idea that he needed to learn to ride a bike. On the one hand, I love the fact that Little Chirp enjoys spending time with me, and he feels no embarrassment in being dropped off by his mother. He plays by his own “how to be cool rules”, and he doesn’t care. On the other hand, I need him to be more independent, and I want him to be more independent because I know that it is good for him. Moreover, shouldn’t everyone know how to ride a bike?
Little Chirp felt he could not learn to ride a bike, and he expressed no interested in trying. We went back and forth about it for quite some time. Little Chirp put up a brick wall around the matter.
In the meantime, Brainy Bird came home from college for his summer internship. He naturally hangs out with his best friend from high school that lives about a mile away from us and has a brother the same age as Little Chirp. Little Chirp was beginning to be friends with this little brother a few months before Brainy Bird arrived home.
With big brother home and hanging out with the older brother, the friendship between Little Chirp and the younger brother naturally strengthened. This past month, there have been trips to the movies, Splashtown, home cooked dinners, and overnight stays, the usual early teen year outings.
The frequency of the argument between Little Chirp and I about my wanting Little Chirp to learn to ride a bike also increased.
Let’s fast forward to yesterday.
Prior to yesterday, Little Chirp made no attempts at learning to ride a bike, and he coldly expressed that it was not going to happen.
Little Chirp arrived home from spending the night with his friend, and we took the dogs on a morning walk. I naturally asked what him and his friend did the day before. They went to SplashTown, oh and the friend taught Little Chirp how to ride a bike. What??
Little Chirp told me of his new bike riding skills in a matter-of-fact manner. Apparently, Little Chirp’s friend, Jeremy, taught him to ride a bike. I asked how Jeremy managed to teach him to ride a bike in one evening, and Little Chirp shrugged. I have spent enough time around Jeremy to know that Jeremy has an engaging, non-threatening demeanor about him. His intelligence and his heart make him successful even when the object of his goal is determined to fail.
One more time leap – to today.
Little Chirp pulled his brother’s old bike out of the barn, and he dusted off the cobwebs. Little Chirp manages his own finances, and he had already checked to see what a new bike would cost. His research told him that this old bike was a great find. By the time that I arrived home today, Little Chirp had the old bike cleaned up and the tires aired up, and he had gone for a short test ride.
As soon as I got home, we headed to the bike store for a helmet, and to get the bike inspected. The gears on the bike need some work, but the bike is ridable. No one has ridden the bike for more than four years. Cute, Little Chirp did not want to leave the bike at the store to have the work done. He wants to go riding with Jeremy tonight. We decided that I will take the bike to get tuned up while Little Chirp is away at camp next week.
When we got home from the bike shop, Little Chirp helped me get Murphey in the car for Murphey’s first public outing. Murphey is not able to get up into the car on his own, not yet…. Here we are at our family’s favorite restaurant.
As soon as Murph and I left the house, Little Chirp put on his new helmet and headed out on his bike to practice riding until Jeremy gets there to ride with him.
I love life. I love today. As Murphey and I sit on the patio in our first ever outing together, I thought that we should, take paws, to think about the day and to appreciate it all.