The rope swing
Oct. 2nd, 2002 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdonarkEveryone has a moment or two of childhood liberation. When I was five, our best friend Barry's dad had put up a rope swing hanging from a tall branch of a tall hardwood tree in their back yard. He then attached a sort of "bag" of "tow sacks" to the bottom of the rope, giving the "swinger" something upon which to wrap arms and legs. I rememember many warm evenings, being tossed SO HIGH on that swing. The swing would seem to go upward into infinity before it began a rapid, intoxicating downward descent. To swing on that swing was to scale the gates of heaven themselves, and then swim through the rivers of golden honey on the other side.
I have another childhood liberation memory. One Christmas, I received as my key gift the Vrrroom bicycle. This bike was an ordinary bike, but it had a faux plastic heavy frame, mimicking a motorcycle. It even came with a battery operated "engine", which only made the "vrrrooommmm" noise, and served no functional purpose.
Somehow I left this bike in the rain, and it rusted mightily. It then became poor "first bike" fodder. It was heavy and unwieldy for a 6 year old. One night, though, we were on our friend Barry's front sidewalk with his parents, my parents, Barry and my siblings. Barry showed us how he could ride his bicycle, which was a simple child's one speed. I was offered the chance to try to ride it. I hopped on, and as if by magic I could ride a bike. I rode it down a sidewalk down a mild incline, as if I were a professional bike rider, albeit a professional with no idea how to brake a bike at the bottom of a hill. From that moment on, I could ride a bike.
I'll bet everyone has those "yes!" moments once or twice in a childhood. What are yours?
I have another childhood liberation memory. One Christmas, I received as my key gift the Vrrroom bicycle. This bike was an ordinary bike, but it had a faux plastic heavy frame, mimicking a motorcycle. It even came with a battery operated "engine", which only made the "vrrrooommmm" noise, and served no functional purpose.
Somehow I left this bike in the rain, and it rusted mightily. It then became poor "first bike" fodder. It was heavy and unwieldy for a 6 year old. One night, though, we were on our friend Barry's front sidewalk with his parents, my parents, Barry and my siblings. Barry showed us how he could ride his bicycle, which was a simple child's one speed. I was offered the chance to try to ride it. I hopped on, and as if by magic I could ride a bike. I rode it down a sidewalk down a mild incline, as if I were a professional bike rider, albeit a professional with no idea how to brake a bike at the bottom of a hill. From that moment on, I could ride a bike.
I'll bet everyone has those "yes!" moments once or twice in a childhood. What are yours?
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Date: 2002-10-02 07:51 am (UTC)I don't remember the *Varoooom* bicycle. I thought that was a variety of the Big Wheel trikes.
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Date: 2002-10-02 08:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-02 09:03 am (UTC)Why are they called "tow sacks?" I always wondered. I can't find them any more - even went to a feed store. You can occasionally find a large sack of potatoes though - if you need 50 lbs of potatoes that is. But I digress...
Yes moments... I felt that way when I learned to ride my bike also. First you can't, then you can.
I used to have trouble with math in fifth and sixth grade. I had such a moment when a patient teacher finally helped me to "get it."
There are probably more.
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Date: 2002-10-02 09:30 am (UTC)My math teacher was Mrs. Gillespie. Bless her heart, but I never got it. I'll have to remember to tell the story of how I was supposed to do a cat and a barn by solving formulae on graph paper, but in fact did a stick and a right angle only. Boy, that 3 week report card was sad!