The pink machine with the sparkley streamers and the shiny rubber tires

hung in the garage all winter long.

It had lots of use last summer but it still had those two extra appendages.

Finally, last week the father freed it from the rafters and removed those extra wheels.

He presented it to the little girl,

she giggled then studied the pink machine,

nervously pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Alright", she said.

"I will try it, but you need to help me"

So the two of them set out for the pavement.

With daddy's hand on her shoulder and instructions whispered in her ear

off she went

with a wibble, wobble, wibble wobble, crash!

right into the gravel.

Daddy picked the bike off the dirt.

"Do you want to keep going" he asked

"Yes", replied the little girl.

Again and again she hit the gravel

and again and again Daddy offered to stop.

"Nope, keep going" she muttered

About a kilometre down the road,

Daddy whispered to her as he picked her off the gravel.

"This time, keep your eyes on the road ahead, don't look down"

With that in mind she jumped on the pink machine and took off

eyes focussed on the road ahead.

So today, with another successful cyclist added to our household

I am thinking about new skills, new things and new ideas

but more importantly

asking the question,


What are my eyes focusing on?