I think the first bicycle we ever had was an old blue Schwinn ladies bike. It was a 26 inch model, but (for a guy) it had that horrible step through frame. I hated it! Everybody up and down the street laughed at me because I had to ride a girl's bike.
So I began to pester Mom and Dad for a boys bike. I still don't know how I expected them to be able to come up with the price for those bikes. This was about 1959 and I think Dad was making the grand sum of $70.00 per week for 44 hours of work - in other words, less than $2.00 an hour! I don't know what a new Schwinn cost - I've tried to look it up, but haven't found it yet - but I do know that there were 7 kids and 2 adults in the family, so money was very tight.
Anyway, I was really anxious to get a brand new boy's bike. Christmas was coming soon. I allowed myself to hope.
We went up to Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler's house on Christmas Eve for the traditional family party. Rene and Paul Kingdon and their family were there and so were we. When we came back to the house we went to bed. I think I fell asleep pretty quickly. There was snow on the ground with more forecast for Christmas day.
I got up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water. That meant I had to go out into the kitchen/dining room/living room. The Christmas tree was near the front door. (The door was on the south east corner of the house.) The kitchen sink was along the east side of the house, so naturally I had a good view of the Christmas tree.
There - parked right next to the tree - were three brand new red Schwinn bikes! There were two 26 inch models and a 24 inch model as well. One for me! One for Joe! One for Darrell! It was fantastic!!
I didn't say anything because I knew I was supposed to be in bed. How I got back to sleep I'll never know. But I did. When it was light out, we were all up and raving over what Santa Claus had left for us. I was in love with my new bike. I wanted to go out and ride it.
But there was snow on the ground, and more was falling. It was too deep to ride our bikes. But Mom looked at Dad, Dad looked at Mom, and then Dad got the keys to the company truck. You have to realise that Dad was extremely honest with that truck. It was used on company business and company business only. But on this Christmas morning, Dad drove up and down the lane to pack the snow so that Joe, Darrell and I could ride our bikes.
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2 comments:
Just remembering when Craig, Kevin and I got our bikes for Christmas....not sure what year it was... Anyway. Same thing it snowed like crazy that year....and at first i was riding my bike in the house. ...i remember parking it next to the old wringer washer so that i could hold on to something long enough to get up on the seat. My bike was a girls bike and craig & keven got Stingrays....but mine was faster by a long shot. Later in the day we were riding our bikes up and down 13th east.
The first bike I remeber riding was a girl bike also. I remeber we lived in Texas and I was 5years old.
I remember dad stopped at a yard sale and purchased the bike, I was so excited to ride it. We got home and dad told us to share the bike. Like we are going to share. I hogged the bike and didn't let any of my family ride it. I think at the time Jody and I would have been the only ones who could have ridden it.
Dad called us all in for dinner. Sauerkraut! (the most disgusting food ever!!!)
we sat for dinner and he asked how we liked the bike. It was great I mentioned. Then I think Jody said I didn't share the bike. I remember my dad getting so mad at me. Literally angery!!!
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