My 1st Bike
I was fortunate to have received a new bike twice at Christmas in my youth, but the one that is indelibly stamped in my memory was the year I received my first ten speed bike. I was about ten years old, and due to some change in family dynamics we had recently moved in with my grandmother. This meant leaving behind my first friendships, changing schools, and trying to make sense of the almost palpable chill in my parents relationship. All I really wanted that year was a ten speed. It hadn’t appeared on my November birthday, so Christmas was my last hope. That morning, my brothers and I charged downstairs, anxious to see what gifts awaited us. I excitedly eyed the whole room, and while there were several other wrapped gifts awaiting me, the desired bike was absent.
Trying hard to conceal my disappointment, I opened up the presents, making sure to thank my mom and dad, and my grandmother for each one given. After about fifteen minutes, my father said “Jeffrey, go get the trash can in the other room for all this wrapping paper!” I got up from aside the tree, and started towards the kitchen, barely noticing a slight smile on my Mom’s face as I walked past her. Walking into the kitchen, I was instantly awash in a wave of euphoria as I saw the gleaming yellow chrome ten speed, with a big red bow attached to it, resting on its kickstand before me.
In an instant, all the challenges and sadness of being uprooted from our old house and neighborhood, were swept away. That moment in time, and the emotions tied to it, are as fresh to me today over forty years later. That moment, with the realization of fun, freedom and independence that that bike would deliver, helped to inspire me to start this charity, to provide to kids and their families who may also be going through hard times, a chance to rise above their challenges, if only for a moment.
Jeff Sanders
Tell us your story on social media @popsdream #my1stbike
