Persevering brings positive results

“Monkey Donkey sat on a wall, Monkey Donkey had a great fall …”
We were on the way to dinner on one of our last days in Texas. My daughter was driving, the girls were all the way in the back, the little boys were in the middle and the rest of the party was in another truck. Nicholas had taken a break from whining about his brother Jacob touching him and was serenading us with a nursery rhyme.
Monkey Donkey? Maybe this was a southern version of the verse I learned so long ago. After poor Monkey Donkey fell off the wall, he was replaced by the more familiar Humpty Dumpty. I never did learn where the new version originated.
We had a couple of extra children in the form of cousins along for the ride. I never know how many children will be around at any given moment when we are down there. Cousins, neighbors, and strays seem to come and go at random. It reminded me of when my daughter was little and I had a houseful of preschoolers most days. It was not unusual to have a collection of shoes or other clothes I had never seen before strewn on the lawn or in the house.
My daughter seems to have continued this tradition as any youngster who spends the night seldom arrives with extra clothes. As a result, a shirt that was worn by one child will be found on another before the visit ends. Even we are not immune from this as it is not uncommon for us to walk away with socks or shirts we had not brought with us. In return, we always leave something behind.
A couple of days before Monkey Donkey appeared it had been decided that Jacob was now skilled enough to ride his bike without training wheels. It is important to note that this was definitely not Jacob’s idea.
He was outfitted with real shoes and a helmet. With the air of a prisoner being led to the firing line, he followed his parents out to the deserted street. As his sister and cousins rode merrily up and down the street, Jacob reluctantly straddled his bike. His mom went first, running along behind and letting go just before he crashed.
Jacob didn’t do much better when his dad took over, even though his dad steered him towards the ditch for a softer landing. He was getting the hang of it, but still ended up in tears before he was allowed to quit.
A day later the process was repeated with the same results. The third day his dad said it was Grandma’s turn. Great. Leave it to somebody who can’t ride a bike. I started him off on the sidewalk in the yard. He made it two or three feet before losing his balance.
He proclaimed, “I can’t do this!”
I told him he can’t do it very well — yet and persuaded him to try it in the yard. This went better. He made it a foot or so longer each time he tried. I asked if he could ride all the way around the trampoline, reasoning that he could grab the edge to keep from falling. He tried it then decided it was time to go into the street.
Off we went. He rode by himself to the next house and back. Feeling confident, he rode almost three houses down. He turned to grin at me and almost lost it but recovered. A few seconds later, Jacob was splattered face down in somebody’s driveway. When he got up, blood was dripping down his arm. I rescued the bike and handed it over to one of the cousins.
His paramedic father fixed him up. He teased that Jacob only fell because he wasn’t out there. Jacob told his dad that wasn’t it, that dad was actually “distracting.”
I am confident that Jacob has since mastered the art of riding on two wheels. More importantly, he has learned the benefit of perseverance.
Now if we could just figure out where Monkey Donkey came from and which clothes we left down there we would be all set.