Ride like the wind!


Ride like the wind!
By Allan Olson
Well, it’s finally happened! Another milestone has been reached in this home – our last child, Alivia, has learned to ride a bike without the aid of the training wheels.
Since she left town with her mom to spend the week at Grandma’s, she had the privilege of being spoiled by Grandma, aunty and three cousins.
She enjoyed her time away from home by playing with other toys, going to a Christian music concert one evening that week and bringing home some treasures from the event including autographs of all the members of the group. That was the second thing she showed me on my arrival with the other kids Friday night.
The first thing she had to show, though, was her newly-acquired skill of riding the bike with virtually no assistance. In a matter of three short days, and with a little help from three special cousins (Makaylah, Angela and Mike) she was soon riding like the wind. The first of three helped her balance the bike while she got settled on it. She took off and almost crashed immediately, but she dusted herself off and started right over. “She always does that on her first try,” her cousin Makaylah explained to me. The second attempt was much better, and she covered considerable ground, singing all the way about her new skill.
The trip north was mostly last-minute, at least for that length of time. The original plan was for me to take Alivia with me on the day of my wife’s relative’s funeral, and she would run up and come back. I thought that since she was going up, if they went up early with her sister (who came down mid-week) I would be able to go north with the other kids and we would all enjoy the weekend visiting and playing Euchre (a card game). That plan largely backfired on me.
With mom gone, it left me being a single (temporary, thankfully) parent of three children. Which meant I had to feed them, make sure they got to bed at a decent time, and take them along for any after-school events I had to cover.
The first night was relatively easy. I had nothing planned after school. My parents were stopping for the night on their way through, and each of the kids got to spend time with them in their own way.
The second night was slightly more complicated. I took them to the baseball game, which is not a big deal; I usually enjoy having them at the games. The next event of the evening was a little more difficult. I took them to the Adult Basic Education Graduation with me for the second time in three years. Thankfully, the kids were well-behaved, and I even was complimented on my children as the boys willingly gave up their out-of-the-way seats for a pair of late-arriving guests.
We made it home late, and I found out Abigail hadn’t been feeling well and didn’t tell me. I helped her out and got everyone in bed by a little after 9 p.m., well past all of their regular bed times. Then I started on packing, a job usually handled by mom. Unfortunately for me, she ran out of time.
The next morning Abigail said she felt fine. I was relieved because I wasn’t sure how I was going to drag her with me all day.
We rushed home from school on Friday, loaded our bags, various miscellaneous items (and Bob) and off we went.
As we neared our destination, we witnessed a helicopter dumping water on some hotspots left over from a fire along Highway 72. Of course, I took my camera out and fired a few frames for the local paper.
Things started going downhill that evening. We played a game or three of cards, but collectively everyone retired early. I found out how Abigail must have felt for part of the previous day, except my issues extended into and through Saturday (I’ll spare the details except to say it wasn’t a pleasant experience for a weekend out of town). Thankfully, I felt much better on Sunday. But then the kids started to feel ill, so we left early and made it home just after noon.
Alivia was happy to be back, and was soon back riding like the wind, singing a song, different from the one she sang about missing her aunty on the way home.
The only slightly sad note for me is that she, too, took her first ride solo ride with dad nowhere in sight. Abigail and Marcus learned how to ride unassisted last summer with the aide of different cousins. On the positive side, it’s great to have a big a family of cousins who are willing to help their younger counterparts learn to ride.
Of course, this means mom and I are going to have to get our bikes in working order, which means sore bottoms and muscles as we get our out-of-shape selves into shape trying to keep up with our children. Maybe getting them bikes and teaching them to ride wasn’t such a smart idea!
Maybe we should blame their cousins for this problem!
Thanks for reading, and have a great week. Remember – watch out for school buses on the road. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com

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