Can I tell you a story about the pure goodness of humanity? About how kindness can move as swiftly as breath from a word through a heart to a talented hand?
Can I tell you the story of Jeff, who read about a little boy’s limping tricycle and showed up just a few hours later to weld it back together?
How he scooped up that unassuming little trike early one morning and returned it later that day all shined up and ready to roll? That he even added a bell?
Because that’s what happened here this week and we’re all so very thrilled.
It unfolded like this:
I wrote a post about how a savvy little four-year old I know jumped on an old tricycle and rode off into summer. I mentioned that the trike had a wobbly wheel.
We’re the kind of people who would have trotted behind that wobbly wheel all summer thinking, “We really should get that wheel fixed” but never actually repairing it.
Just a few hours after I posted that story, a man I had not met before reached out to me and offered to fix the wheel. A friend of a few of my friends, Jeff had read the story and wanted to help.
He and his wife Bobbie popped over to give the trike a look-see later that afternoon. He pointed out a few things I had not noticed before, like how the tire treads were completely worn down.
“Imagine the miles this trike has ridden,” he said.
I told him it had been my little sister Jenny’s bike. She was an active little thing and roamed our neighborhood at will. I imagine those tires could tell a story or two about some of the shenanigans she and her neighborhood friends cooked up.
Jenny told me she called it “the sunshine bike” back then and it seems like a fitting name now.
When he returned the bike, Jeff explained the repairs he made, and the ones he didn’t.
He welded the tire spokes back together and added some hardware to help the wheels roll smoother. He didn’t replace them because they work just fine and he really wanted to preserve the bike’s history.
He welded the wire basket and tilted it a little to make it safer but he left the zip ties (because they have a history too) and he left it crooked because that’s how Mickey likes it.
He shined it up, because he’s a really nice guy, and he returned it before the four-year old even realized it had been gone.
Jeff also told me his work comes with a lifetime warranty.
We live in a complicated world and things happen that test our faith in each other. I know people who worry about bringing babies into this world because sometimes it can seem like a very cruel place.
But, we also live in a world where a busy guy will drop everything to repair a four-year old kid’s tricycle.
So, maybe next time you talk to someone who’s feeling down about the state of the world, you can tell them the story of Jeff and the Sunshine Bike.
I bet it will make them smile.
