Training Wheels

The sky was orange the day we let go. I don't know what possessed us to finally take off Spencer's training wheels 15 minutes before a severe thunderstorm was going to hit Lincoln. There was lightning in the western sky, the air was thick with a low-rumbling threat, and, for some reason, we decided it was time to take off the training wheels of our 6-year old's bike that he got from Santa Claus 8 months earlier.

He had been riding like a pro with all of the other kids in the neighborhood, zipping up and down the street, so Chris just got it in his head to take those training wheels off. Dad stood by with his hand on Spencer's back seat to steady it from any inevitable spill. He was ready to run with the newbie and save him from any road rash that might occur, when Spence just took off! Like a bird takes to the sky. Spencer rode his bike like he had been riding it since birth. No stumbles. No wobbles. No crash and burns. Cycling poetry. And then the rain came.

There is a large group of 9-6 year old boys in our neighborhood and they all "ride bike," mostly in the church parking lot across the street. (Sorry, Pastor Kim!) It's really cute how they all hang out, and I can only imagine the trouble that all of these boys are going to be getting into in 5 years. They love their freedom to roam. And all I have to do, if I need to find my boys, is look for the large assortment of bikes strewn across whichever family is lucky to be the "host" for that afternoon.

We live in Lincoln, NE. Not necessarily the safest city in the world, but pretty darn close. It's NEBRASKA for crying out loud. And our neighborhood tends to be pretty safe. At least a lot safer than the neighborhood I grew up in. Kids would come down to the pool over the summer and just leave their bikes on the grass. Kids ride their bikes to school and don't bother locking them. Sometimes I leave the house and don't even bother locking the door. (My hometown friends are shocked, I know!)

The boys were out playing last night. Rather than parking the bikes in the garage, (What happened to my street smarts?) we parked them right up next to the garage, in between the garage and the minivan, right up next to the house. I went to work at MilkWorks at 9:30am and came home at 12:30pm. Bikes still there. I went over to volunteer at the school at 1:40pm. Bikes still there. My Mary Kay co-hort Dana came to pick something up at 2:30pm, two bikes still in formation. We came home from school at 3:45pm. Spencer goes outside at 4:00pm to find....THAT HIS BIKE IS GONE!!!!!

Someone took it. The primary suspect is obviously a kid. One bike stolen=one perpetrator. If it was a group of International Bike Theives casing the joint in their Van of Evil, they probably would have taken both bikes. Which leads me back to the One Perpetrator idea. I could also guestimate that the perp had to have either been a Middle-Schooler (They get out at 3:00pm) or a Catholic School kid. (Out at 3:15-ish. At least, that's about the time that they walk by the house and cause my dogs to go crazy!!!!!)

The perp needed to be fairly brazen. The bike was stolen while positioned in between my minivan and the garage door. I had the blinds up and the house looked occupied. Someone had to have gotten close to the house and nabbed the bike without fear of someone being alerted by the obnoxious barking twosome from inside. (Although, one time a cat popped up and rubbed itself all over our deck. Rosie was, like, a foot away and never woke from her bone-dream slumber. Missed opportunity.)

Spencer cried for an hour after he found out what happened. And it truly broke my heart. Not just because someone took something special that belonged to him, but because he found out that there are people out there who really suck. People who will do really cruddy things to other people. For no good reason.

I tried to decide what to do. Money's tight. I just found out about a fantastic fundraising opportunity the PTA is doing: Cookie Dough-top seller wins a free bike! I know I have a lot of calorie-defiant friends and, with my entreprenueurial know-how, I knew we could win. But then I remembered that we have a popcorn fundraiser for the Boy Scouts and have to sell $600 worth of popcorn, (And yes, I will be calling you) so I changed my priorities.

So I decided to check Craig's List and see what used bikes were out there. I found one for $15 with all kinds of rust on it. I found another used one for $200, which wasn't worth what Santa paid for the original stolen bike. And then I thought to myself....it's not Spencer's fault that his bike got stolen. He is innocent. Why should he ride around someone else's crappy rusty old bike, just because some idiot stole his? Why should he suffer, not only the loss of innocence, but the humiliation of someone's broken hand-me-down just because someone decided to take what wasn't theirs to take.

I went online. Target had bikes for $59.99. We went and found a flashy orange one. Brighter and snazzier than his last one. With a kickstand. Spencer rolled that bike up to the register and I charged it. Debt police, you can come and get me later. Found out the bike was on sale! I saved $10! It was meant to be.

And the best part was that we learned quite the lesson, even though this bike never came with training wheels.