My Orange Skateboard Helmet

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After I learned how to walk again, I continued to make my way around my childhood home with a walker, while my legs became stronger. Sometimes, when I needed to get from one place to another quickly, I used my wheelchair. I learned to do wheelies in my chair and became pretty good with it. Sometimes, I walked to strengthen my legs; and when I did, I wore an orange skateboard helmet.

The fall after Drs. released me from the hospital, after my legs became strong enough, my cousin Paul, who had moved to San Diego from Spokane with his mother, taught me how to ride a bicycle. The first time I rode a bicycle without Paul helping me, I rode around the bottom of our cul de sac, while Paul ran to a neighbor’s house, and told them to come out and watch. I fell off the bike and hit my head. Luckily, I wore my orange skateboard helmet. After my mom bandaged me up, I got right back on that bike and started riding again.

Throughout the past couple of years, so many of us have fallen off of our proverbial bikes. We’ve lost our jobs, our savings, our families, and perhaps so much more. If you watched the Oprah episode last week about the couples who had lost their millions, you heard them say that along with those millions they lost thoe pseudo-friends who came with the money. It’s important that when we fall off of our proverbial bicycles, we get back on and continue to ride. It’s even more important that we wear a helmet—those friends who will be our friends regardless of how much money or power we wield. Those are the friends who are going to protect us when we crash.

Until next week,

Erick