Written by Like most little kids, my first bike came with three wheels. I tend to imagine all of my childhood rides in red, but I honestly can’t remember the color. What I remember most is the thrill of being able to roll about and go wherever I liked. I’m sure my mother has pictures somewhere of me on the actual tricycle, but all I have now are my memories. I’m equally not sure it was quite as cool looking as this one and was most likely something far more plain and simple. But it wouldn’t have mattered in the least. Getting your first set of wheels is a thrilling occasion. Sure, it really wasn’t possible to go faster than the speed of walking, and any child at a run could outrace you, but having those wheels made it all okay. It was chance to be like those big kids I’d seen on their two-wheeled bicycles as they zoomed past me. One day, that would be me, but in that moment I could dream I was just like them.
From here, I was upgraded to a bike with training wheels. It seemed like a bit of step backward since there were now four wheels, and my entire goal was to make it to just two. Riding on two wheels seemed like magic to watch at the time. It really seemed like it should be impossible. Those kids on 10-speed bikes who sailed down the street on the thinnest wheels I’d ever seen where my heroes. Sometimes without any hands on the handlebars and always without helmets (this was in the early 70’s after all. People weren’t ignoring the rules, there were just several hundred on parenting that hadn’t been written yet, and we all mysteriously managed to survive anyway). I eventually got a new bike myself, of course, and could travel farther from home than ever before on an endless number of adventures. This lasted several years and I was initially content, thinking I’d conquered one of life’s greatest challenges. But, as with most things in life, there’s always something a little better waiting just around the corner.
As happy as I was to be gliding around on two wheels, I weirdly started to find myself craving four again. I had just turned 15 and was learning how to drive something far more adventurous in the form of a car. Well, an old truck my parents let me use to practice. I was about to become as close to being an adult as one gets before actually becoming one. Though who can really say when we actually become one. I would be able to go wherever I wanted with my friends. Not just places in the neighborhood, but places far away from me. I would be able to go on dates and make out in the back seat! I would soon go to college and have my very own apartment, or compartment as the reality was, but still, it was going to be so amazing. I’d have a job and I would be entirely on my own! The independence I sought the moment I was born was just within my reach. Looking back, I only have to chuckle. We’re never truly on our own, thankfully, and life is never better than the version we learn most definitely requires others. But I was so busy shaping me back then that I was often too busy to stop and notice. I was on an unstoppable trajectory and great things must surely be happening next, thanks to those three little wheels of my very first bike.
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About the DoodlewashDa Vinci Paint Co.: Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Blue, and Payne’s Gray. Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with sepia ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. |
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I was sure you’d have streamer hanging from the handle bars.
Darn it!! I should have added that! hehe!! Fun!! 😃💕
amazing job doodlewashing this trike!
Thanks so much, Jodi!! 😃💕
Wonderful post recounting the wheeled milestones of childhood! I love your sketch of the red tricycle.
Thanks, Sharon!! 😃💕 So happy you liked it!
Fantastic. That brought back a flood of memories about my very first candy apple red two wheel bike. Wow I was so excited! I remember how my cheeks hurt from being so excited! Thank you!
Thanks, Sean! 😃💕 Awww the cheeks hurting from excitement! Love that! Totally know that feeling! (even now… I’m still a big kid! 😊lol)
Amazing how we grow up wanting what we don’t have and spend our later years feeling fond of what we had. Contrary folk, we humans. I do love your rambles and I’m in awe of your paintings!
Thanks, Sandra! 😃💕 Yeah, we’re just never quite content, but I guess that’s why we also can end up doing awesome things!
Wonderful trike painting! I remember getting back into biking in my early 30s. What a cool thing it was to have the wind in my face again. Reliving a bit of my youth was so much fun!
Thanks, Lisa! 😃💕 Aww yay! That’s awesome!! Yeah, riding a bike is still such a thrill!
Just remember that a baby is sitting in this bike. little charlie. Four wheel s r perfect lie.
Beautiful 🥀
Thanks so much, Snehlata! 😃💕 Yeah, Little Charlie had so many places that he wanted to go! hehe
This reminds me of my blue tricycle..Beautiful painting..!
Thanks, Anita! 😃💕 Blue is a lovely color as well!
Very cute little red bike I remember mine too! 😉 And Congratulation Charlie and Philippe for the lovely Do Cook Book! Looks beautiful! 😉 <3
Thanks so much, Carolina!! 😃💕 The more affordable Amazon version comes out this week! We got a little excited in making the premium one, but the hardback one is SO awesome looking!! 😊
My grandson simply didn’t have that yearning, and I couldn’t understand him. The desire to be away from parental control, made it an imperative in my life, and my parents didn’t have today’s culture of taxi of mum and dad, so if I wanted to go somewhere, I walked, rode or didn’t go. I think it developed an independent streak I like.
I totally agree! I love that sense of independence we had to form. I think it made a lot of difference later in life! 😃
The tricycle,you have captured it perfectly…
Thanks so much, Pamela! 😃💕
It shouldn’t surprise me that you would start out writing about a tricycle and move on to a wistful homage about traveling through life. You really are a great writer, Charlie, and a talented artist.
And you’re an amazing encouragement to me, Sharon! 😃💕 Seriously, I can’t thank you enough for your comments as they help me keep forging on, even on days when it seems impossible to create these posts. Thanks, my friend!
Thank you, Charlie – this is a sweet thing to say.
Awww….. It’s adorable Charlie and you captured it perfectly. And as always I love your story!
Aww thanks so much, Sharon! 😃💕
I love the joy that your paintings and writings generate.
This one makes my heart sing…
And the joy of your comments makes my heart sing as well! Thank you so much, Sarah! 😃💕
Lovely tricycle art! I do remember the color of my tricycle…RED, and how it was placed on my bed as a gift from “Baby Jesus” on a Christmas day morning when I was four years old.
Thanks, Leyla! 😃💕 Awww what a wonderful memory! Yes, that would definitely make sure you wouldn’t ever forget the color! Sweet!
I enjoyed that, Charlie. Great painting of your trike. We just enabled our grandson (1 yr old) by buying him his first set of wheels for Christmas: a big, red, plastic wagon. He loves it!
Thanks, Susan! 😃💕 hehe… yay for grandparents and the way they enable us! LOVE!!
First a trike,, then a bike, then the world! That’s you Charlie.
hehe… thanks, Kaye! 😃💕 I think that’s actually just all of us! And it’s always possible to make those dreams come true!
Lovely tricycle:)
Thanks so much! 😃💕