My apple watch vibrates mid-sentence. I’m out for dinner with a friend. Four hours of soul food sitting over salad and unlimited water refills.
It’s Simon, my 21-year old son.
Hearing from him is a bit like a happy fire drill. Stop everything. It could be an emergency. He may just want to know how to get beer out of the carpet.
I choke down a pumpkin seed to answer the phone.
Mom.
Simon.
Do you have a picture of your bike?
I hear the muffled voice of someone else in the background.
I bought a bright yellow TREK mountain bike twenty years ago, when I still thought I might be the adventure type. I can count on one hand the number of times I rode it. It’s in mint condition. Could even call it vintage, although why offend me in the process.
These were Simon’s wheels until stolen a few weeks ago in his university town. No, it didn’t matter that my husband reminded him to take it inside with him at night. Also didn’t matter that it was locked.
Mom, I walked out of the gym and saw a guy riding my bike. I flagged him down. He bought it on Facebook Marketplace for 30 bucks a few weeks ago. He wants proof that it’s mine. Do you have a picture?
…of the bike taking up space in our garage for more than two decades? Proof of one of my many brief convictions that I was about to become a different kind of person?
Let me look.
This is so exciting. I’m like a detective searching for evidence. I need to get off this phone so I can search my camera roll without distraction.
Bike Guy gets on the phone. He seems impressed that Simon called his mom. I tell him far too much about when I bought the bike, its condition, how easy it is to spot. I think I’ve won him over. Also, I like him.
We hang up. Mission, find the photo, which I do in seconds. Just the back half, in a picture of our messy garage. Am I really going to send this one? You bet!! We have a bike to reclaim.
Sent. And so we wait. Crickets.
Simon? Did you get the bike? What happened? Finally, Simon’s girlfriend Alex puts me out of my misery. Reunited. Simon and the bike that’s almost old enough to be his mom.
The story circulates around family and friends in the next hours and days.
Bike Guy was super nice. Simon offered him thirty bucks. He didn’t want anything. Simon finally convinced him to take five. Bike Guy reasoned he’d gotten to rent a bike for a few weeks and got a slice of pizza out of it.
Before they parted ways, Bike Guy shared with Simon how easy it is to break into bike locks. I know because I got the play-by-play.
Huh.
And so I asked him. Any chance the bike guy was also the thief?
No mom. He was so nice. We had a good chat. He even tried to find the message exchange on Facebook.
Me and Simon’s roommates? We’re not so sure.
A thief who got caught red-handed and talked his way out of it. Or a guy who paid thirty bucks for a bike, gave it back for a slice of pizza.
We’ll never know.
Which story leaves us better off?
Either way, the kid’s got his wheels back.
And that bike? Finally had its grand adventure.
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Each week, I share something I’m learning, living, or working out in real time. It’s part storytelling, part reflection. I hope there’s something in it for you too.
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