When I was eleven years old I wanted a unicycle. Having no money, I did what all children must do to get something they want, I begged for it constantly. At a minimum, I brought it up in conversation at least once a day. I made a habit of inserting the word “unicycle” into conversations where it would not naturally occur, such as, “Hey mom, my unicycle money is due at school tomorrow. Oops, I meant milk money. Did I say unicycle?” Or “Mom, did you let the unicycle, I mean dog, out?” I know I drove her completely crazy. “Why on God’s green earth do you want a unicycle?” she would say to me. The question was not why, but why not?
Unicycles were cool and unique. Very few people had them. In my opinion, they were way better than bicycles. No one ever got noticed on a bicycle but you could definitely get someone’s attention on a unicycle.
I understood my mother’s hesitancy, however, as I was not extremely coordinated. I was the child who would wreck my bike and break my arm, get a concussion while horseback riding and nearly drown in my grandparent’s swimming pool. From that perspective, a unicycle probably seemed like a risky venture. Eventually, though my mother acquiesced. I don’t recall where we purchased the unicycle, minus Amazon Prime, it certainly wasn’t going to magically appear on my porch the next day.
Somehow though my mother made it happen. I remember getting it home and beginning the grueling task of learning to ride it. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. A lot harder! You had to learn to balance on it first. This involved getting the pedals in the right position and then kind of popping up onto it. You also needed something to hold on to in order to gain your stability. A pole or a kid sister worked equally as well although the pole wouldn’t run and “tell mom” if you knocked it over.
My unicycle did come with something similar to ski poles that you could use to balance yourself once you were up. If you were lucky enough not to impale yourself on them they were pretty helpful. I suppose I must have resembled a large drunken spider as I lurched up and down our street with the poles splayed out beside me. I am certain that the neighbors wondered what circus I was planning to join.
Eventually, I was able to go a short distance on the unicycle. I never really mastered it but that was okay with me. I had fun with it and loved the wow factor of having a unicycle. That’s the great thing about being a kid, you really don’t care who’s watching you. It’s all about being original and expressing what you enjoy. We could all challenge ourselves to think out of the box and act creatively. Growing up shouldn’t mean that we stop being unique or doing what we love.
Just for fun, I looked up unicycles on Amazon. It turns out that I could get one delivered in just a couple of days! That would be the easy part. The hard part would be convincing my kid sister to come and hold me up again!
