A Tale of Two Bikes

Remember Amir and his bikes? There are two bikes and if you look closely they are slightly different. They are both "Diego" bikes but the one Amir is riding plays music. Sophia and Olivia LOVE that bike. Amir seemed ambivalent at first but now has caught on to the hot commodity in his hands and sometimes refuses to share. This is quite understandable. He is two.

And so we spend many afternoons/evenings in the street with three children, two bikes, lots of screaming and a very tired mother. We take turns on the bikes. One happy child on the music-playing bike. One resigned child on the other bike. And one screaming child chasing the other two down the street. (Sadly, this is often Foo.)

I realized how much energy in dealing with small children is spent in an attempt to "be fair." Taking turns, sharing, equal time on toys...We model fairness, we teach fairness, we have fairness interventions.

Only so they can spend the rest of their lives watching life debunk the myth.

There's been some myth debunking in our community these past few weeks. We've been confronted with circumstances that make me want to run down the street after the "Diego bike" of my expectations screaming "It's not fair - this is not what we want - Whose turn is it anyways?!"

And the answer comes, slowly and quietly and not unfamiliar. I realize my hope is in the wrong things, the undependable things, the Fisher Price plastic of the grown up world. People fail, relationships crumble, bodies break. And we were never promised otherwise. In fact, we were actually told this is how it goes...great.

"In this world you will have trouble..."

But in the words of Sophia when I try and "paraphrase" a long book before bed:"Keep reading Mommy keep reading, that's not how it ends..." -

"...But take heart! I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

I think I just might take some "overcome" over some "fair" any day.

Go Diego Go.