Before either of them had mastered the task, we were working on their skills one day and as we took a short break, I decided to take one of the bikes for a little spin. The grandkids looked at me in utter disbelief. “Grandpa knows how to ride a bike?”
“Well, yeah,” I said. “Why is that so strange?”
One of them—the youngest one, a four-year-old—answered without hesitation. “Because you’re old.” Nothing like coming right out and saying it! I could tell the other grandchild agreed but he was too nice to actually say it.
I stopped riding and told them, “Well I wasn’t always old, you know. And I learned to ride a bike when I was a kid.”
“But that was a long time ago!” The oldest one was still content to let the younger one do the talking, but both of them wore the look that said they couldn’t believe I could really ride a bike.
“It definitely was a long time ago,” I agreed.
Neither one said anything for a minute or so, then the youngest says, “And you still know how?”
“Of course I do. Did you think I’d forget?”
He nodded.
I said, “Well, that’s the thing about riding a bicycle, it’s like, well, riding a bicycle.” Figuring he’d never heard the saying, of something being compared to riding a bike, I thought I’d maybe have to explain my statement.
But before I could, the ever-philosophical four-year-old, with just a hint of disgust said, “Grandpa, riding a bicycle isn’t LIKE riding a bicycle, it IS riding a bicycle.”
“You’re right,” I told him. I again started to explain I was just using the saying to be silly and tell him what it meant.
He interrupted. “It means when I learn how to ride a bike, I won’t forget.”
Um, yeah. That. Sometimes I wonder if my grandkids really need me for anything. Well, maybe to help them learn to ride a bike, I guess. ~
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million.