In these days
leading up to Amanda’s birthday, a few blogs will be writ to her honor.
Amanda’s nickname, Bodie, derives from the time
when at three years old, Amanda could only speak a few words and her favorite word
was elbow which she pronounced bo-bo. Bodie originally meant she
who can only say elbow – now it means oh so so much more!
One day when
Bodie was in second grade, she came home from school crying. When I asked what
was wrong, it soon became apparent Amanda was angry with me!
“The teacher
asked the class today who knew how to ride a bike. Why was I the only person in
the room who did not raise a hand?”
She was crying
bitterly as she spoke the words.
“Why did you
not teach me how to ride a bicycle before now?”
Oh was she
mad!
Apparently the
teacher had given the class a homework assignment to write about a first time for something. Then as an
example, the teacher asked how many kids knew how to ride a bike? They could write
about the first time he or she rode a bicycle. I don’t know if the teacher was expecting each child to raise his or her
hand or if she thought a few would raise a hand and all of them would
understand the example she was illustrating.
But Amanda was
the only one who admitted to not being able to ride a bike, and she was humiliated at this obvious failure on
her parents’ part.
“Bodie, I had
no idea! Your sister does not know how to ride a bike yet, and she has tried.
Since Sarah is older than you, it has not occurred to us that you would be
interested in learning how to ride until after your sister had mastered it.”
“The bike has
training wheels on it?”
“No we took
the training wheels off because Sarah was ready to learn without them; the bike
is in the garage, and you can practice in the driveway before supper if you
want to.”
Bodes dried
her tears and marched to the garage.
By dinnertime,
she could ride a bike.
No one was ever going to
embarrass Amanda in that way ever again! This was the first time she rode a
bike, but it was not the first she wrote about for homework!
And this is just one of many examples of Bodie's awe-inspiring independence!
333 20151129 Bodie and the Bike
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