Archive for July, 2011
What Would You Buy With $500?
Tom and I recently bought bikes. Yes, I know. Everyone these days owns a bike. The United States has approximately 30 million bikers, to be exact. But what makes our situation a little more unique is the fact that the last time I owned a bike was when Columbia 10-speeds were in style. Yes, back in the 80’s. Now, there’s nothing wrong with Columbia bikes, per se. In fact, I’m very proud of my old bike.
We were one of the few kids in the neighborhood growing up that didn’t have bikes. No, bikes were luxury items. It didn’t quite have the same prominent stamina such as food and clothing. Most of what we had were generally hand me downs from church families. When my mom got her first $500 bonus from work several decades ago, it was a big deal for her and my dad. After all, it wasn’t long before that when we escaped from Vietnam ravaged from war. As you can imagine, $500 was a lot of money for them, especially back in those days. One of the first things ma did for us was to buy my brothers and me 10-speed bikes. I remember my bike clearly. It was a boy’s bike, with a bar going across the top of the frame with curled handle bars. It was crème brûlée in color with a dark brown stripe. It wasn’t the most high-tech bike in the neighborhood, but I was proud of it and most importantly, it was mine.
Tom and I have been talking about buying bikes for several years. We thought it would be so fun to have bikes so we can go on family bike rides with our kids. We could never justify it because there were always more pressing items of which we needed to spend our money. We never thought that bikes were a necessity. What finally made me decide to buy bikes for us was watching Tom and seeing him wistfully watch other families in the neighborhood as they biked by, going on their family bike ride. After one particularly stressful day at work for Tom, I figured it was time. Tom works so hard for his family and never spends money on himself. I figured that I would spend the money for him, so we headed to the local bike shop.
Walking in was a bit of a bike-culture shock for me. There were hundreds of bikes everywhere. I don’t know where my mom bought our original bikes but I can’t imagine there were this many selections and after looking at the price tags, I can’t imagine our bikes cost this much either. There are some things in life that are here today, gone tomorrow. There are other things, however, that should be considered investments. I knew our bikes would be the latter. We walked out the store that day as proud bike owners.
Since then, Tom and I have thoroughly enjoyed our new toys. We’ve taken our bikes on numerous adventures, solo as well as those long-awaited, well-deserved family rides. I can’t describe the freedom I feel when the wind blows through my hair as we coast along beautiful trails. And the peaceful look that Tom has on his face is priceless.
Those early days of bike riding many years ago on my first real Columbia bike is not lost upon me. My bike back then didn’t have the bells and whistles that my current bike has. But what my Columbia bike did have was heart. It had heart because it was bought with love from someone who wanted to give to her kids before she gave to herself.
It is with this same love that I wanted to buy a bike for Tom.
