I don't remember training wheels or tricycles? I did have roller skates as a child and loved them. Growing up in Southern California, I skated in the neighborhood and on the strand, all year round. It was pretty perfect.
When I was ten and my little sister was six, we took a family trip back to the Ukraine to visit my mother's family. After spending a few weeks there vising aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, my Mom and Step Dad (#2, that's another story) decided to to leave my sister and I there for a year. What? Yeah, and split us up, each with one of my Mom's sisters' family. Huh? Yup, for a year. Cool!
I was supposed to be going into 4th grade, but they put me in 1rst, I slowly moved to 2nd in a few months, nice. Yes, the US school systems are that far behind. Sad, I know. Anyway, after some adjustments and learning to speak Russian (small detail), it wasn't so bad. I actually have a ton of great memories of that year, really.
One of the best is learning how to ride a bike. It was at my grandparents house in Koresten, which is a small town near the Polish border. I can remember thinking the bike was a little big and my youngest Aunt telling me that this is the same bike my Mom learned to ride on as a child. Weird. My grandpa put me on the saddle, told me to pedal, and ran along with me for a few seconds. Then all of the sudden, he's gone. I'm going down a dirt path that they called a driveway to the big wooden gate at the street..... Big gates, getting bigger. Uh, how do you stop? Our quick lesson did not include brakes! ...Bonk, ouch!
I did it, I learned to ride. I know, I was already 10 and 10 is late, but I was still pretty proud. All my cousins cheered. Then we each climbed up an apple tree in the backyard, pelted each other with apples, and tried not to fall out of the trees. Yeah lots of good memories.
How did you learn to ride a bike?
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