First day of the year 2023

Life is like riding a bike

My daughter has fallen many times on her bike. The first time she fell, she was so scared that she swore to never ride the bike again and stick with her scooter that wasn’t dangerous. But she quickly realized that she has outgrown the scooter, could not keep up with everyone else and decided to give the bike another try. Now, each time she falls, she jumps up, readjusts herself and tries again and again. Each time she tries again, she gets better and better because you learn the most by making mistakes.

Today was totally dedicated to rest and relaxation. After sleeping in later than usual, I spent the day outside with my daughter. I'm always telling my children that we should spend time outside connecting to nature and they hold me to it on the weekends if there are no practices or games scheduled. Temperatures have seemingly mellowed out in comparison to the snowmagedon we had a few days ago. It was a cloudy day with just enough sunshine peeking through to keep us warm. I actually wore shorts and a t shirt outside. We started and finished the day by walking the dog, Luigi. The rest of the day was filled with courageous, learning laps with Miss Lauren. We would take about 3 spins around the subdivision with small juice breaks in between.

Months ago, when she got the bike for her birthday, she was ecstatic! She had been basically begging for a new bike with all the shameless plugs she dropped about the "big girl bikes" and how wonderful they are lol. BUT the very first time she rode it, she fell down HARD! So hard that it scared her. It was a sad birthday moment for sure. Her grandpa, Pop E, decided to put only one training wheel on so that she would feel secure riding again. That encouraged her to give things another go but you could see from a mile away that she was still scared. And she didn't ask to go outside as much thereafter.

Until today! The first day of the year, she decided to confront her fears, head on! I actually had to ask HER if we could please take a break?! This girl was determined to get it right this time! I sat in awe of her courage! I cringed every time that she fell. It hurt me to see her having such a hard time but it didn't stop her! She fell sternum first onto her handle bars one time but I had no idea until she made a little ice pack almost an hour later during our juice break. I told her she is one tough cookie!!

She said that she's not afraid anymore because she knows that each time she messes up, it just means she's getting to closer to getting it right. Which was the cherry on the top of an ice cream Sunday spent outside enjoying the breeze.