Bicycles

When I was younger, I rode my bike all the time. I lived about 3 houses from my elementary school and I even rode my bike to school. The second the snow melted, the bikes would come out. We would head down to the local bike store (which is now a hair salon) and get the bikes put in working order. Then from the time school was done until sundown, I rode. During the summer, it just started earlier and ended later.

It was before the days when children weren't allowed to do anything for fear it caused permanent brain damage. The monkey bars were still metal that got scorchingly hot in the summer and burned the backs of your knees when you spun. The ground was still pebbles and cement - not the rubber stuff or wood chips they have now. No helmets were needed, no parental supervision. Summer when I was a kid was what real freedom is about.

My friends and I rode all over the city. We went by the house of the lady that was murdered and stared at the police tape and the blood stains in her garage. We biked to the Legislative Buildings and played with the geese. We biked to the local store (which is now an old folks home) and bought a dollar worth of 2 cent gum.

I remember those days with fondness that tells me I am forgetting something. I'm sure it wasn't as good as I remember, but I'm going to pretend it is.