I May Be A Bit Dramatic

I never quite realized how much freedom my bike gave me until I had it taken away. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s the truth. I’ll set the scene for you and let you decide whether or not I’m being overly dramatic.

 I'm lucky. My grandparents have a vacation home in Naples, Florida. It’s a big house in a gated community. Picture your typical sitcom where all the houses are pristine, well decorated and have perfectly manicured lawns. The HOA fees must be astronomical because behind the closed gates are miles upon miles of trails, golf courses, a river with kayaks and canoes at your constant disposal and paddle boards too. In my opinion, the best part about this cloistered community is the private island. Yea, that’s right, they have an island. And, yes the community has a boat that takes you to and from the island every half hour.

 Since 1992 I have had a bike that I could ride around the community and gawk at the fancy houses, and the fancy cars and the fancy ladies wearing fancy jewelry driving the fancy cars. I also rode my bike to the boat dock where I could depart for what we have aptly named Gilligan’s Island. I love the little island. I was married on the island. I think of it as my island even though its shared by thousands of residents. 

 Now, getting to the point. I was down in Florida for Thanksgiving and I avidly rode my bike everywhere. I rode around the community, to the grocery store, to the gym and to the boat dock. I left for only 1 month and came back for Christmas.  Now, you may have noticed that I am writing this in the past tense. That’s because when I returned for Christmas I learned that my grandpa had “donated” all 3 of our bikes.  And no, this was not a Christmas surprise where he  replaced the “donated” bikes with new bikes. He wanted more room in the garage for his new Cadillac. Needless to say, I  was not happy. Asking  to take the car whenever I wanted to go anywhere brought back old struggles from high school  that I was not willing to resurface. With no bike I was trapped.  The community I once loved had become a prison. A white collared crime kinda prison, but still a prison.

Their house is 2 miles from the nearest gated entrance, so when my grandma asked me to run up to the grocery store to pick up some milk – I ran. It’s hard to run with a gallon of milk. Shortly thereafter we set out to buy 2 new bikes. And when I say we, I mean my entire family, all 6 of us, piled into the new Cadillac in search of new bikes. 

After a bit of shopping, I learned that pawn shops are not the ideal place to purchase bicycles or anything else for that matter. But, Craigslist had a great selection of beach cruisers.  So, in the end we’re upgrading our circa 1992 hybrid bikes with some pretty cool new beach cruisers which are perfect for trips to the grocery store or facilitating your escape plans.