She rode her plastic car down the stairs. She had made the attempt several times before, but we had always been there to catch her just in time. This day there were no parents within eyeshot and she took the rare opportunity to make the fateful ride. The first indication of her adventure gone wrong was the “thump thump thump wham” heard from down stairs. Her head took a chunk out of the mud wall which produced a lovely goose egg. There was no long-term damage, but she took the afternoon off playing it low-key and lying on the couch watching cartoons. I was upset with her. I just couldn’t figure out what would have possessed her to do such a silly thing. We had obviously made it known it wasn’t allowed. Didn’t she know that was a bad idea? Was it the thrill of doing something naughty or just the thrill of the adventure?
Yesterday after dropping our son off at school, I had some free time to get away for a bike ride. As usual, it had rained hard the night before, so there was some puddle dodging and working my way around little land slides that covered the road. Not even 10 minutes into my ride, still on the pavement, I remembered having the thought “to go fast around this corner, I should drop my outside foot, shift my weight inside, and turn my hips.” And turn my hips did after my bike slid out from under me on the wet road. My chin bounced and then I rolled. A Nepali woman was on the scene 2 minutes later (she had not seen me fall) and was sure to chastise me for riding my bike down such a risky road. I’m not sure why I was interested in taking the corner quicker. Interested in getting to the bottom faster or just the thrill of the adventure?
After 8 stitches to my chin and a painful shower to clean the imbedded road muck in my cuts and bruises my, I had a chance to reflect. I decided the next thing to do was to take some ibuprofen, and then after that, perhaps I would try to teach my daughter how to fist bump.
Trips Take People 