Priceless

Although I don’t have an older brother, I, too, had inherited a few hand-me-downs from my older sister. No, I didn’t pick up the clothes she had outgrown. I did get a few of her old pencil boxes, used supplemental text books, for example. Luckily, my experience with hand-me-down stuff was quite limited. My younger brother on the other hand, probably got tired of getting things I had used or shirts I had outgrown. I never did ask him, I wondered if he could still remember?

My sons are two years apart, just large enough age gap for the little one to "recycle" whatever his older sibling has outgrown. Of course he got brand new clothing, too. I’d say a good portion of his wardrobe was inherited from his older brother. Not even once, as far as I can recall, that my younger son complains about getting the old stuff. Quite the contrary, he wants to be like his older brother and loves taking over things from his older brother.

Last Wednesday I told my younger son that I was thinking about getting a new bicycle for his 7th birthday. His eyes got really big and he had a grim from ear to ear. I asked him to keep it as a secret and he nodded. I could tell he wanted to tell his older brother right away. Extremely excited, he managed to keep it quiet. His glistening eyes said to me that he was somewhere up in Cloud 9.

With the temperature dropping rapidly as we head into late Fall, our outdoor activities are at the mercy of the weather. No one in the right mind would want to be out when it’s only a few degrees above freezing. Just so happened that I was doing some early Black Friday ads search online when I noticed a few bicycles that were already at sales prices at Walmart. I thought why not make our little guy happy by delivering his new bicycle before the weather puts a stop to our bike rides?

I talked to my Mrs. and she, too, thought it was a good idea to upgrade little guy’s bicycle. His old bicycle was a classic hand-me-down from his older brother. The old tires had worn out and were replaced over a year ago. The two brothers had put some serious mileage on that bicycle. Definitely time to get a new bike. When Saturday came around – our usual shopping day of the week, we decided to head over to Walmart.

At first we were just doing our normal shopping, miscellaneous household items, etc. We always stop by the toys section so our boys can get their hands on the latest line of action figures, whichever is the ongoing trend for them. They know the drill by now, browsing does not equal buying. Next to the toy section was the bicycle display area.

I called my younger son over, and I asked him about the secret we had. He nodded and his big smile returned. I took his hand and walked him to the kids’ bike section. I asked him, "Which color do you like?". His eyes widened and he was clearly, clearly ecstatic. I pulled a couple of bikes down for him to test ride. After a couple of rounds going up and down the store aisle, he made a pick. If permitted, I had no doubt that he would ride his new bike out to the parking lot immediately!

We thought about making it a Christmas present at first, but then he won’t be able to ride it since it will be too cold outside with a high possibility of snow covering the driveway. Besides, how do you deny a child’s wish especially after you have granted that wish? Shortly after we got home from the store I let him test out his new bike around the neighborhood. Although he couldn’t quite sit in the seat and reach the ground flat-footed, he soon figured out a way to mount and dismount the new bike. Within minutes, he was riding it like an old pro. Seeing him with the glowing smile was simply priceless.

original post date: November 16, 2009