Cycle: He Taught Me

{

Disclaimer: All the characters, places, names and situations are fictions. They are not made to offend any individual's identity or thoughts. They are just character background and my characters does not define me, but just my thoughts for the character. I also request my readers to not have any biased mindset, the stories are meant to stir some feelings in you, so just go with the flow and enjoy. Please do not copy the stories and repost them.

Love💜

Copyright © WD, 2021 All rights reserved.

}

Everyone in this world learns to walk after few months. The first steps are recorded by someone who cares for the baby. Millions of Polaroids, framed albums, video clips are all kept with great caution to relive every time one goes through them. Sometimes smile creeps on the face with all those memories and sometimes trails of the watershed from eyes. More or less almost everyone has this set of photos. Very few of them have another similar event in life when one starts cycling.

Cycling for the first time is just like standing on your legs for the first time. The difference is that we do remember the feeling in contrast to when we were babies and started to walk. I was a three-year-old when my parents decided to bring me a bicycle, before that I used to ride a horse. Yes, I had a quad cycle which was a horse in disguise. It was my unicorn, in my dreamland. My shift from my unicorn to my bicycle was just like waking up from a dream and stepping into reality. From that day, I remember everything, and memories from before that vanished like a sweet dream that you want to remember and can not because now you are awake.

The three-year-old me was jumping in the shop full of bicycles. Cycles with baskets, without baskets, cycles with supporters, without supporters, cycles with long seats, and cycles with smaller seats. That day cycles seemed like big bloomed flowers with beautiful vibrant colors, and I was a butterfly who had her first day out of the cocoon. I wanted them all but, only one was meant to be. I landed on the big red seated, yellow bicycle with a backrest, a basket, and supporters. It was my sunflower. 

My little legs denied reaching the ground for support, so my sparkling eyes went to ask for it. The one who caught my eyes was my father. He was standing a little far away and was engrossed in watching his daughter grow every day. As our eyes met he became worried and came rushing as if he sensed pain and asked me if I did not like the sunflower. He was ready with a bouquet already. I told him that I am afraid I will fall and he smiled, a smile I will never forget, and said, “I will never let you fall”. It feels like I learned cycling just at that moment. I had no worries as he was holding my back. At times the mischievous me would pretend my legs were a turbine and pedals became the blades in no time. He had to run to keep his promise. He did it all happily.

The day came when supporters were to be removed. I was not afraid I knew someone had my back. The four-year-old me was living life without fear. The butterfly was in love with the sunflower. I learned cycling without supporters but not without support. I still needed him behind me. He had different plans though. As much as he wanted to stop time with me being a little girl who would jump on him with happiness whenever he returned, he knew he was a father who had to make his daughter better. He left me that day, and I had no idea till I saw behind. He was waving from far away, I started to misbalance, and I was on the verge of falling when something firm stopped me. He came running, he kept his promise. He stayed behind me till I asked him to wait so that I could try on my own.

He did not just teach me how to cycle, he taught me important lessons of life. First, he would always be there no matter what. Second, I will have to be self-dependent instead of being paralyzed. And lastly, an imbalance is a part of the learning process, but I will always have either someone else or my inner strength to back me up with firm support. This is how a young beautiful butterfly learned to balance her newfound wings, now she was confident she could fly better.