Nightglow Window

Letting Go

Mark F. was a weirdo. His house was behind ours in Mission Viejo, back in the early 1970s when only 5,000 people lived there and the hills and "wild country" began just a few blocks over. He was four years older than me and was a strange bird -- I wouldn't be surprised to turn on the TV tonight and see him on the receiving end of some Cops beat down.

I was probably seven or eight when he grabbed me by the arms and swung me around, waiting until I had some good momentum going before letting go. I sailed through the air and landed on my G.I. Joe canteen. I knew something was horribly wrong almost instantly. But it was only when I looked down and saw a big bend in my arm where one shouldn't be that I really freaked out.

It was my first bone fracture, but it wouldn't be my last. Over the next six or seven years I was in and out of casts -- breaking both my arms and legs and some other random stuff. The doctors said I had a "bone deficiency" -- something that's called Type I osteogenesis imperfecta today. It's (thankfully) an extremely mild case of a very serious genetic disease. My dad has it, too, and broke way more bones than I ever did as a kid.

But my parents never let it slow me down -- something that I'm really thankful for. I was absolutely hell on wheels with my BMX bike in the third, fourth, and fifth grades. I cringe thinking about some of the stunts I did during that time.

Eventually I "grew out of it." Fractures became less common. Today, the only remnants of that time are a slight limp (one of my legs is a tad shorter than the other because of a break), a slight blue tint to my sclera (the white of your eyes), and a serious over-protective streak when it comes to my own kids.

Both of my girls were diagnosed with Type I early -- but not before the horror of having some well-meaning doctors treat me like I was abusing them. (Unfortunately, that's common. Check out this story in Reader's Digest.)

Anyway, they've been mostly fracture free for the last year (a collar bone in March 06 and a broken finger last October). I remind myself not to be over protective with them, but it's hard seeing your kids get seriously hurt.

So, I was a nervous dad this afternoon. Syd has been hesitant to take up cycling and I was fine with that -- until she hit the fourth grade. Since then we've been pushing her to ride more. She ditched the training wheels back in September, but today was the first time the two of us went for a long ride together.

She did incredible and her grin was ear to ear as we rode up and down the new Coastal Rail Trail near downtown Carlsbad. I was extremely proud of her, but letting go of my own fear and trusting her skills and confidence was a big step for me as well.