August 10th, 2020 - Evening bike ride

I had an interesting bike ride today. My mom saw me bike for the first time, and she said I was doing it really well. I had a few awkward instances of crashing into things in front of other people, fumbling with the pedals while crossing a road while a car waited for me. Overall it was nice.. I biked all around the neighborhood with so much ease. The circle I've been confined to all my life without my parent's aid has gotten a lot bigger. There's a shopping area behind my neighborhood that would normally be an hour and a half's walk, but now I could get there in 15 minutes. I can't even begin to think about what that means..! 

I also got cat called for the first time.. by some high school looking boys. I had half a mind to go back and ask them to repeat themselves, but I'm too used to letting things go. That was interesting. It made me feel quite disgusted. I really wonder how common that is. A friend I've spoken to told me she's been cat called and even stalked on numerous instances. I wonder if it's the difference in race, or the difference in neighborhoods, or the difference in attractiveness, or all three. 

My mom walked Rickie at the same time as my bike ride. At one point I stopped half a mile from my house and she came walking up to me out of nowhere, as I was biking home I saw her and shouted "who's that?" jokingly. I stopped and she ran up to me. Seeing her and Rickie together, they looked so happy, coming from another life where we're not stuck in this miserable situation. Rickie all white and fluffy after I washed him today, he would spot me and start tugging at the leash, so happy to see me. I biked home and she hadn't arrived yet so I waited on the porch, and it was nice. 

Around the beginning of my ride, I came across something strange, there were three girls hunched over on the sidewalk, staring at two very small chicks. That's right, baby chickens. In an upper middle class suburban neighborhood. I stopped, and when they saw me they picked up the chicks and walked away. I really wonder if they just found the chicks, or if they for some reason had pet chickens that they took outside and put on the sidewalk? Either way it was odd. The chicks were so small, and fluffy, they make a lot of noise with their little peeps. I had the thought that I'd want to raise chickens someday, when I got home I researched it. If I ever own a house with a backyard in my life, I'd love to try it. 

At another point, I stopped by a park, and sat there. Being around kids is uplifting for me, they laugh about everything, and live with way less cares in the world. Though I want to cling onto that childish side of me, it's faded over the years, maybe inevitably. Part of what makes me want to go outside lately is just going to playgrounds and being in that atmosphere of the carefree happiness of children. Laughing, and playing, and learning, riding tiny bikes and tiny scooters. 

When my mom got home with Rickie, our neighbor's kids abruptly came outside and asked to play with him. My mom said sure, she gave his leash to them. I went upstairs and watched them from a window, it was hilarious! Those three kids and their parents and my dog in a small backyard, they could NOT keep up with him. He was running figure eights around them, they were chasing after him screaming RICKIE! RICKIE! There was something very pleasing about watching others interacting with my dog. That he brings joy to them. And he gets to get some of his boundless energy out of his system. Sometimes I wonder how well my dog would thrive in a more active family, but I do my best. 

I asked a week ago on online forums how to get started on biking as an adult. Yesterday I went back and updated them on how I'm doing, they replied all proud of me, one of them told me that I should be proud of myself. I felt good today.