I fully expected that this activity would lead to an afternoon straight out of a tearjerker TV commercial: Uncle Jason running down the street alongside a wobbly nephew until finally letting go and proudly watching him ride off on his own. While preparing for this scene, however, there was a tug at my t-shirt. Younger Nephew JT wanted his training wheels off too. With my backlog of repair tickets piling up, I quickly finished Wilson's bike and set it aside, turning my attention to JT's.
When I finished JT's bike and looked up again, here's what I saw:
Yes, that's Elder Nephew Wilson, tearing off down the street unaided by a proud, tearful uncle. Apparently, he didn't get the script for our TV commercial.
And wouldn't you know it? While I was distracted, this happened:
If you're scoring at home, that's TWO fearless nephews riding without training wheels. No grownups hanging on, no wobbles, not a worry in the world.
By this point, Wilson was circling back and preparing to stop -- and I feared disaster. But he did a cyclocross/Pony Express running dismount like it was nothing. It wasn't until later that I realized where I'd seen that move before; his grandfather dismounted the same way, though that grandfather was gone years before Wilson was even born.
Meanwhile, JT was off riding through ditches and over the biggest rocks he could find. That kid's going to have a lot of good stories and a lot of scars to go with them someday.
So my TV commercial was a flop, but I was a proud uncle just the same.
2 comments:
Move over old man, here come the youngsters!
Great story.
clearly you'll have to start having the cast read through the script before filming starts!! --smiley face--
At least you were there to be part of the event, and you have the comfort of knowing that the family genes are fully equipped for two wheels. Time to start shopping for a kid-back attachment for the tandem??
Steve in Peoria
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