A little pink bike!

For those that know me well, you would have heard the infamous story about the pink bike. For some of you, this story has probably been heard many times. Despite the incident occurring over 25 years ago it is still very fresh in my memory! 

When I was a young girl (about 7 years old) I asked Santa for a pink bike for Christmas. When Christmas morning arrived I raced into the lounge room to see if Santa had bought me the pink bike that I so desperately wanted.  There was a bike there for me, but it was not pink! Maybe Santa was colour blind or perhaps one of his elves was dyslexic and read my letter incorrectly. Either way there was one very dissappointed little girl who had not received the pink bike that she longed for.  Of course I should have been very grateful for receiving such a wonderful gift, for there were so many other boys and girls that were far less fortunate than I was.  This was the very first bike that I learnt to ride, my dad took me down to the oval and just pushed me off and let me go, he never believed in using training wheels. Maybe that's why now in life I still often prefer to take the difficult path instead of the easy one!!

As I grew older and learnt that Santa didn't really exist, I also learnt the real reason why I received a red bike that Christmas instead of the pink one.  I have 3 younger brothers so my father decided that the bike needed to be able to be passed down to them and as its a bit hard to give a boy a pink bike, they decided to give the girl a red one instead.  I must admit, I felt a little ripped off!  Instead of my pink bike with streamers and a little basket on the front, I was riding around on a red boys bmx (it's no wonder I'm not a girly girl). When it finally came time to hand my bike down to my brother, he didn't even like the red colour and wanted a black bike, so the bike was painted!! I could have had a pink bike after all, we could have painted the pink bike black!!  When it came time for me to get another bike, I had the choice of getting a boy's mountain bike that was the right size for me and could again be passed down to my brothers or I could get the ladies mountain bike that was far too big but would at least last me until adulthood, needless to say which option was chosen!!

Some would say that I am still a little bitter about this whole red v pink bike saga and perhaps I am!! So this year I have decided to give my baby girl the pink bike that I always dreamed of! A super tiny version of a pink bike, Specialized brand nonetheless! I hope that she loves this little bike and that it becomes the first of many for her, I can't wait until she is big enough to go riding our bikes together, to explore the big wide world.  If only they made a matching bike in my size!!