This week’s Storyworth writing prompt was what was your favorite toy as a child. My first memory was of my childhood bike.
I can still remember seeing the bike in the window of the local newspaper office. I was 6 years old. There was a contest where you could win the bike if you sold 15 newspaper subscriptions. I was determined to win. I went door to door in my neighborhood, completely solo, and sold those subscriptions. Now I know that people who did not grow up in the 80s could not even consider letting this pass as a safe activity, but that is how we rolled back in the olden days. A bonus was getting my picture in the newspaper as one of the winners.
I rode that bike everywhere. The local diner, Snows. My brother and I would pay for our Cokes and French fries with change. I know the waitresses loved us. The swimming pool. Every single morning at 10am when it opened, I was there. I only came home for lunch and when the pool closed at the end of the day. The Fourth of July park. My favorite things to use were the swings and Space Saucer. My goal with the swings was to flip over the bar (never met that goal, but I really tried). My goal with the Space Saucer was to spin so hard and fast that I fell off. I recently saw a picture of a Space Saucer on social media asking how anyone could think that was a safe thing to play on as a child. All of my friend’s houses in the neighborhood.
The strangest part of my childhood bike is that my parents never knew my location. That would never happen now. I know where my kiddos are at all times. We all do. How more children of the 80s were not abducted is astounding!
