Throw Back

For some strange reason, I've had the Reading Rainbow theme song in my head since early yesterday morning.  The show was a personal favorite of mine when I was a kid, but for some reason I couldn't remember the words except, "Take a look, its in a book.  Reading Rainbow!" (Now its in your head.  Ha!)

If I was going to have this constantly looping in my mind, I had to figure out what the rest of the words were.  So, what does one do in such a situation? Google it.  I quickly found the solution to my problem via YouTube.  In the process I discovered this clip from the show-



Ah, the early 90's.  The clothes, the hair, the neon...the human powered vehicles. So hilarious.  If you desire more hilarity, check out the rollerblade scene in part 1.  Here's a tease:

I think I had that hat.

Anyway, that took me back.  I remember all the cool boys in the neighborhood tried doing tricks on their "BMX" bikes.  There was an empty lot two streets over from my house that they constructed ramps on.  There were a couple nasty wrecks. I don't think any of them had a successful career in "freestyling" either.  However, I do remember that the meaner the kid, the smaller the bike.  They rode around with their knees up in their faces wearing their hats backwards, terrorizing everyone else.

Me?  I was pretending to compete in an elite road race while I sped around the neighborhood on my white and teal Kmart bike, with my snap bracelets and high tops.  In the summers, all my friends and I would ride around the neighborhood with smashed pop cans wedged against the back tires to make them sound like motorcycles.

Bicycles were freedom and the catalysts for our imagination.  To me, that bike could be anything.

The really cool thing is, they're always going beyond our imagination.

But, you don't have to take my word for it.