When I was in grade school, all I could think of having was a new bike. Actually, all I could think of having was a trampoline that would cover the entire back yard (which was a good solid half acre)and so I would wake up every morning for way too many months and look out my bedroom window- which faced the backyard- and somehow convinced myself that there would definitely be a monstrosity of a trampoline out there waiting for me.
Never happened.
So I started hoping for a bike of my own. As the last of six kids, I got a shit load of hand-me-downs... like Toughskins and Hush Puppies from my older brothers (yep) and parachute pants from my sister way too long after they were socially acceptable. And my bike... I had to borrow my brother's BMX bike when he wasn't using it and then, when he was, my mode of transport was a broken down yellow Big Wheel with a stone stuck in one of the wheels. Awesome.
Then on my birthday, my dad surprised me with a red and white bicycle cruiser. It was yard sale grade, well used, with a bent spoke and I loved it. Mostly I loved it because I know how much my father wanted to give me something of my very own when he was struggling financially. It meant everything to me.
I took it out for a ride around the neighborhood and within a week, every single fucking bratty kid living around me made fun of my little red bicycle. They all had those hoppin' ten speeds that were all the rage in the 80's and I was popping wheelies and jumping off ramps on my red cruiser. They named my bike Kool Aid and called me The Kool Aid Girl and pointed and laughed and did and said every stupid thing adult screenwriters would make kids say in dated sitcoms and after school specials.
I wish I still had that bike that I eventually outgrew in lieu of said ten speed when I was 16, but I think it was passed on to a family friend's kid.
Anyway, point is, that bike was the best. Better even than what that trampoline in my backyard might have been. And I'm just now coming to that realization.
A few years ago, Sebastian surprised me with a brand new cruiser. This one deep plum and cream and I named her Liliput. We call her Lily. She has a basket. And I'm preparing her to be road ready again now that the wind and rain has died down a bit from our short lived winter out here. I'll post a photo in another week or so of Lily in honor of Kool Aid and the obstacles of mean and nasty people we later learn to just not give a crap about.
Meantime, here are some great shots of random peeps enjoying their ride. Yay for happy girls on cool bicycles!
