Kyle's First Adventure

Kyle took his first bike adventure at age 3.

I was pregnant with his sister Kara. It was a late spring day, probably in mid-April. Kara was due in a few weeks, and I was feeling "great with child." By mid-afternoon, I felt I just couldn't make it through the rest of the day without a nap. I gathered a few books and puzzles, hoping to keep Kyle busy for an hour while I took a quick nap. I plunked him on the bed beside me and firmly told him to stay put while Mommy rested. If he moved, I'd wake up. It's the nature of a mom, right? Wrong! I awoke an hour or so later to the ringing of the phone. It was a neighbor mom calling. Did I know Kyle had just peddled a quarter of a mile down our county road on his little red tricycle to deliver a birthday gift to his best buddy, Jessi?

So began Kyle's love affair with adventure. He was "wild at heart" from the beginning of his boyhood. From there he advanced to building L'ego sets designed for kids much older than himself (without reading the directions!), making complicated "traps" out of string in his room, constructing zip lines from backyard trees, and shooting bow and arrows at targets and BB guns at birds. His first 2-wheel bicycle was a heavy duty monster that took him a while to master, but soon he was off and racing down the country road in front of our house in search of adventure. He soon moved on to roller skates, skateboards, and rollerblades for which his dad built a ramp to make this new adventure more exciting! His final adventure on wheels before his first car was a go cart. It was as much fun on ice and snow as it was on the paved parking lots of the elementary school. He and Kara burned holes in the bottom of multiple plastic saucers pulled behind the beast before he finally outgrew it and moved onto to his first Honda, a car.

That '91 Honda took him on many further adventures down the road in high school to footballs in neighboring counties, Cedar Point Amuzement Park in Ohio, Olivett College to visit friends (IL), Holland, MI (via Gary, IN...oops!), and multiple trips to Chicago. When that little beige beauty gave out during his freshman year in college, he travelled on foot and by bicycle, doing triathalons and the Chicago Marathon. He travelled to Greece, Italy, and El Salvador to study and volunteer in ministry. He skiied in Colorado. He spent the summer in South Africa working for Youth for Christ, hiking through Namibia on a break from teaching English to 6th graders. He spent a summer biking with a club team while doing a research internship at the University of Notre Dame. He spent a January studying at Oxford. He landed only briefly in Upland to resume his college studies as required to complete his Engineering Physics degrees with additional studies in Economic Development.

Now his Honda is a bright yellow '95 Magna motorcycle. And another adventure begins.

Enjoy. Be safe. God speed.

Love and prayers as always,

Mom