Christmas

Hopefully you all had a good holiday. Mine was pretty good, and I'll bore you with details. No, just kidding.

I'm a jaded person, I admit. Born in NY, 100 miles from NYC, and it's a genetic trait. What made my Christmas were two things at work. One, a family came in with a young girl who was afflicted with some kind of dwarfism. I was reluctant to help because I saw all these kids piling out of the van, it was the end of the day, etc. But then I saw who this little kids bike was for, and suddenly it wasn't important the time of day.

I had to cut the seatpost twice, and we had to add blocks to the pedals, which my coworker Ron helped with. It took some dooing, but it was well worth it. The parents said how all she wanted was a bike, and she was so excited to be coming to the bike shop. She said thank you with a big smile as she left. I'd have stayed the extra half hour for free if I needed to.

Christmas eve I helped a man whose foster grandaughter was mentally challenged but wanted a bike. We went through all the options, and since she was too big for a kid's bike, we finally found a pretty bike that we were able to put a handle on that would give a steadying hand as she learned. This was because no training wheels fit a full size bike.

The grandfather said this would make their Christmas perfect, as she really wanted a bike. I can give a damn about the high dollar exotica I play with in the business if I make kids like this happy and feel like they're not being left out, to give them a little bit of experience of a normal childhood.

Finally, my father in law and his mother came up from Mexico, as well as my mother in law from FL. Presents don't matter so much when you don't get to see your family that often. Material things break, but memories only fade, they never totally go to black.

Happy New Year!!