Strange Encounters Of The Bike Kind

Not much happened today. After dinner Autumn & I went outside so she could ride her bike. I let her ride her bike alone a few days ago while I was cooking dinner. We live in a nice, safe, and quiet neighborhood & I wasn’t worried about her riding alone. As I was finishing dinner she came in the door just sobbing. I tried not to freak out and I asked what happened. From what I could piece together between her tears she said she was riding her bike down the sidewalk and she hit a truck! I guess a truck was coming out of the alleyway and LUCKILY saw her & stopped. But she wasn’t used to the hand brakes yet and ended up running into the truck. I asked her what the people in the truck said or did. She said it was 2 guys and they just asked if she was scared and she said no and then they drove off and she rode her bike home.

I’m SO THANKFUL that the whole incident went down the way it did. She could have been hurt or killed if they didn’t see her and stop! When I was telling Mom & Dad about it they said I’m lucky those guys didn’t throw her and her bike in the back of their truck and take off w/ her. It makes me so sad that we live in a world where kids can’t just ride their bike around the neighborhood alone anymore.

So, today when she wanted to ride her bike I went and sat out in the driveway on a lawn chair in the shade w/ a big Care Bears cup full of cold water. It was warm (90 degrees) but wasn’t bad in the shade b/c there was a breeze. She rode up and down the sidewalk (where I could see her) for a while and then said she was getting too hot and sweaty so we came back inside.