Why I Should Have Paid Attention in Science Class......

My son learned about the Law of Gravity yesterday. Namely, that kid on bicycle picks up momentum on a downhill motion....

Jacob's Gammy took him to the ever fabulous blue store and purchased for him a nice and shiny new bicycle complete with Lightning McQueen helmet and pads. You don't know who Lightning McQueen is? You don't have boys apparently, but never fear because I will educate you in all things Cars this summer because it my son's new love.

Anyway...we are in the mountains here people, a far cry from the Texas flatlands from which we come. The mountains are pretty to look at and the mountain air is heavenly, but riding a bike is much more difficult here. So Jacob takes his fancy bike and rides it up and down the sidewalk, which is on level ground, but got pretty boring after a while so his highly intelligent Mama suggested that we walk down the street where there is a cul-de-sac/traffic circle and to the naked eye seemed FLAT. So off we go down the street, happy that we have come up with such a fool proof plan. I am thinking I should have hauled a chair down there because surely he will want to stay there all afternoon riding that bike and dang, I have hats to knit, when I look at the circle and notice it had a slight slope to it. I casually mention to my beloved son that maybe he might want to stay away from that side, I pointed and everything, when he steers that bike right around the bend and that bike starts heading wildly for the curb. I figure, well he will hit that curb and fall off the bike and that will be that BUT NO, he hit that curb and went right up over it, through a vacant lot, and began careening down the ridge headed straight for a group of trees OR the fifty foot drop off into nothingness. Have you ever seen Better Off Dead when that paper boy is chasing Lloyd down the ski slope on his bike? Like that. I am screaming "brakes, shit, brakes, oh shit" all the while chasing my kid at track star speed down the hill myself. All I could see was his little legs trying to keep up with that bike and then finally he just gave up and stuck them straight out to his sides and finally jumped off the bike, or fell off it, who knows, but he just missed the trees by about three feet and I shudder to think about that drop off just next to them. After I checked him over and deemed him ok, we sat and laughed our butts off. Well, it took Jacob a little while to find the humor in it, but eventually he laughed too. I am sure it was pretty hysterical to anyone watching, especially the grown woman running barefoot screaming obscenities in such a nice neighborhood. It could've turned out so much worse if I hadn't forced him to wear that helmet or if that bike had veered a little more to the left. SO, lesson for the day: Wear the bike helmet, you may feel like a geek, but it may save your life one day!