I'm a Big Girl, Now!

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Don't let me go! Please don't let me go! I was about 6 years old ... learning to ride a bicycle. I was excited, afraid! The bicycle had training wheels ... how did I know they would keep me from falling? I began to slowly pedal the bicycle ... each time I pedaled ... the braver I became. I was a happy little girl! One day my mother told me it was time for the training wheels to come off. I was a big girl, now! I was excited ... afraid! I wanted to be a big girl, ride the bicycle without training wheels. I was a big girl in ways my mother didn't know. I could climb the high bank across the street I lived on ... play on the railroad tracks. I loved watching the trains go by. Why, I would sneak up the street to the railroad crossing ... where cars drove into town ... and play a game I was taught by older kids. I would watch the train cars move slowly ... run underneath the train ... cross to the other side of the tracks. I never got run over! When I walked to school each morning ... I would run with the big kids underneath the moving train that would be there. We'd make it to school in time. I was excited ... afraid. Not only that ... I would sneak across the street to the cotton gin where someone had their horse each evening. As soon as school let out ... I'd run to the cotton gin. I would get to ride the horse all I wanted ... then, I run home. No one was the wiser for the longest time. Just like riding the bicycle! My mother told me she'd hold the bicycle as I rode it. I trusted my mother ... sure enough she held onto the bicycle as I would ride. She didn't let go. One day I was riding, concentrating on pedaling ... I happened to look at my mother to smile. She wasn't there! Mama! I was riding like a big girl! I kept on pedaling down the street. I came to a stop on my own. I knew how to ride my bike! I was a big girl ... now! Note by this Author: This is a true story of a mischievous little girl ... at the happiest time of her young life. Photo/story owned, written by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee.