Storytime!
First, some background: a lot of people in Uganda ride around on bicycles. But they’re really tall. And they have a second, shorter seat in the back. The other night I was chilling with some kids, and one of them had his bike with him. He asked me if I wanted to ride it and I was up for the challenge. Since so many things are different in Africa sometimes I feel helpless, because they have different ways of doing things. But a bike, I could rock at riding that thing.
So I hop on full of confidence.
And my feet don’t reach the pedals.
and I start rolling.
(It’s amazing how slanted the ground suddenly becomes when you are on a monster bicycle.)
And I continue rolling and gaining speed.
It’s really fun, but like I said I can’t reach the pedals and soon I discover, the seat is out of reach as well.
so I am sitting on the back seat, pretty much free fallin’.
The thought occurs to me that I don’t really want to end up at the bottom of this hill, which happens to contain a creek that everyone gets water from.
so I turn the handlebars to slow down and attempt a graceful exit, which never works out as well as it does in my head.
I walk away from this small incident with a little less skin on my ankle and a lot less dignity.
And then I saw the brakes attached to the handle bars. :/
But the kids were there to pick me up from my fall, they were sweet and so concerned about my ankle.
after they finished laughing that is. 😉
Moral of the story: Sometimes life is a free fall. We set out so sure of ourselves and end up knocked off our feet. But it’s pretty fun on the way, and we find ways to reconcile the damages.
And the irony of it is, we discover the brakes after the time we needed them most.
But isn’t life supposed to be this crazy awesome?
I would love to hear some of the simple adventures that have been happening with you back home so take
advantage of the comment section down below!
