Learning to ride a bike is always a huge deal when you are younger. All of your friends knew how to ride them and you never wanted to feel left out. It’s crazy how such a little event can become such a memorable thing in your life.

When you first learn to ride your bike, It’s usually your parents who teach you. My dad worked 3rd shift so he would always sleep during the day, and my mom worked during the day. So they never really had  I spent most of my days out at my grandparents house. They were the main people who watched me while my parents were at work, and it was one of my favorite places to be. They lived in a decent sized house way, out in the country with a wide grass filled space surrounding the whole house. On this one particular day, I was not worried about the scenery. I was determined to learn how to ride a bike and I would not stop until I did so.

Since my grandparents were older, they weren’t as capable as helping me, but my uncle was. On this day he told me he would come over and help me. I remember staring down the long, steep, black paved driveway waiting for him to arrive. I watched as a large blue-green truck crept past the driveway opening and began coming up towards me. I jumped with excitement and waved my little hands in the air, ready to start.

My uncle laughed and said “hey kiddo, you ready?”

“Yes, I've been waiting all day for you to get here”

I darted towards the garage to grab my bike. I rolled it up the small hill that led to the paved flat driveway.
But before we even got started I turned and looked at him sharply “Do not let me go”. 

Putting his hand on my shoulder he laughed while saying “I promise, I’m not going to let you go, you have to have some trust in me.”

I don’t think I have ever said anything with more seriousness in my life. At first we had started with just me pedaling while he held onto the back of my bike, holding me steady. After continuing this for 15 minutes he asked if I was ready to try it on my own. The thought of falling terrified me so I shook my head.

“I can’t do it on my own yet.”

But I would find out in just a few seconds that I could.

My uncle pulled the classic move that everyone does. They hold on for a minute while the child begins to pedal, and then they let go. I vividly remember pedaling and him holding my small white seat. Then something had just seemed different. I turned to look back, expecting to see my uncle standing behind me, but instead I see him way far back standing towards the end of the drive way cheering me on. Realization finally hit. My heart instantly dropped.  A rush of panic instantly filled my veins as I slowly began to become unsteady. As a kid I always panicked and it didn't help, that when working on my pedaling, my uncle never taught me how to stop. Any normal kid would probably put their feet down and tried to skid to a stop. But nope, not me. For some reason my mind just doesn’t think that way. Thinking that this was the biggest decision of my life, i finally decided what needed to be done. Instantly, I let my body just  slam to the ground. This caused me to scrape both of my knees, and left my blue butterfly bike to just laying on top of me.

My cries filled the air as I looked down at my bloody knees. My uncle ran over to me.

“You were doing so well! We just have to work on your braking.”

I shook my head as I began pleading to him “No, I never want to ride a bike again, I can’t do it.” “I told you not to let go”. I cry as a feeling of betrayal sinks in.

“Come on, follow me.”

My uncle grabbed my hand and walked me over to a rock, sitting me down on his lap. He then gave me some of the best advice a person could give you.

“When trying new things, It will always be easy to fail, but failing or succeeding is not the important part. The important part is that you tried to the best of your ability and normally when you do that, you will end up succeeding in the long run.”

As a little kid, obviously I just kind of shrugged it off, not thinking much about it. But later on growing up, those words constantly replayed in my mind. Every time I struggled to finish/achieve something I would think back to what he said. The people who care about you will always preach to you and give you advice, and at the time it may not seem important, but pay attention. You may just need those words of wisdom to help you later on.