The Blessing of Scarcity

The other day I mentioned that I would write about how the lack of a bicycle in my childhood has affected me, and here it is.

I can’t remember how old I was, but I had gotten my Dad to agree to buy me a bike. I was so excited, because I would have been the first in the family to have one. As soon as my Mom found out, she vetoed my Dad’s commitment.

“How about a skateboard instead?” I begged.

“No,” my Mom said.

“Roller skates?”

“No, nothing with wheels.”

“Not even a little toy car with wheels?”

I just said that because even as a kid I was sarcastic.

So I never had a bike or a skateboard or a pair of roller skates. However, my childhood friends, twins Annabelle and Annalyn, did. And we shared our toys with each other. That’s how I learned how to bike and skateboard and roller skate. I remember how, for 2 or 3 summers, our maid Ate Celia ran behind me while I learned to balance on the bike. I finally did.

The twins seemed to know how to bike right away. They were physically superior to me in every way: taller, stronger, fair skin, brown hair, high ridged noses. This is why I grew up feeling ugly - but I digress.

We 3 girls shared 1 bike. How did we do it? One would ride around the bike while the other 2 would sit on the curb and talk while waiting. Occasionally, the one with the bike would seem to take longer than necessary and when she came back, the other two would accuse her of going another route to get a longer turn at the bike.

Of course we often had to go places together. Luckily we were all skinny girls and we fit on the long seat of the banana bike. Annabelle, being the strongest, sat in front and had the privilege of being the main biker. That is, she had to pedal! Annalyn, being the tallest, sat in the back and got to lean on the backrest. I, being the smallest, got to sit in the middle, sandwiched between the twins. We got around our subdivision this way  and sometimes even visited the nearby subdivisions, befriending the children there.

So what did I learn from this experience? How to share, how to take turns, how to be patient when waiting for your turn, how to make do, how to make the most of what you have, how to be happy whatever the circumstances. Most of all, I learned that having good friends is much better than having all the toys you want.

(In loving memory of Annabelle, who was always the strongest and the bravest among us)