9- Eliya A- My first sight of freedom

 My first sight of freedom

I have ridden Bikes almost all of my life. To me, riding a bicycle has always felt freeing. It was the first time I was actually able to be outside the house, all on my own without parental supervision. The first time that I remember Riding a bicycle was back when I was 3-4 and I would ride with my dad almost every day (since school wasn't really a thing yet). Remembering that trail that we'd always go on, all of the twists and turns that it had, and the fact that it was able to go all the way to the beach, although we would always try, we probably were able to get about 1/8th of the way there. 

 when living in Brookings, Oregon, A.K.A a town of roughly three thousand people, riding bikes was really the only pastime when you weren’t playing at the beach. Living in Oregon was one of the first times where I was able to get an ounce of freedom, (although being able to walk to the end of our street wasn’t that much, it still was a big deal to me). And when kindergarten was only 2-3 days out of the week this gave me more time to explore the very small town of Brookings. 

My bicycling stopped when I started living in Petaluma, mostly because of the fact that all of the other kids were into scooters rather than bikes. Being young and highly impressionable I wanted to be like these older kids, so I stopped wanting to ride bikes and be into what the other people were into. 5 years later I won a bike in a raffle, and this bike was the first one I've had in over 3 years. However, this bike didn't last long because when my stepmom left my dad, she took a lot of things with her (what she would do with a children's bike, I would not know). That event kind of hardened me, because it was one of the things that I actually owned, I was rewarded with, and it just left like that. 

Recently, I was actually able to get a new bike. This bike held a special place in my heart because it was the bike that my dad had ridden all of those years back, and every day that I ride it, I get a sense of nostalgia for when times were simpler. However, it's different now. I used to ride bikes so that i can hang out with my dad, but now, i do it to remember those simpler times when my family was a family, when we used to go on bike rides, when we used to do family things, it makes me miss it sometimes. Things that also have changed is that now I have a bigger field to explore. Since I have my license now, my freedom has expanded 10 times greater than before. I used to think of how much greater it would be when I grew up and I was actually able to do things on my own (not just bike riding), but now, it kind of makes me miss back then. 

Looking back, I think the word bicycle has a much deeper meaning than just an object with 2 wheels. To me, a bicycle is a way to connect with others, it creates friendships, it clears your mind. 

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