I woke up this morning thinking about this situation:

Years ago when I was a kid (I'm 52)- between the ages of 8 and 12- we had a three wheeled Honda that we drove all over the place. We lived in a subdivision in a city of about 250,000, but there were a couple of vacant fields nearby. We drove it in those fields for years, all year round. We had quite a few friends who would join us- in the winter we'd pull people on sleds with the Honda.

I loved riding that thing. I just felt like I was free- it was fun to feel the wind in my face.

But then one year some kids took offense for some reason. One day I came home from school and some kids were riding our Honda in the field right near where we got off the bus. I was scared, but I went down and confronted them (I didn't know what I'd do if they caused any trouble- there were at least 3 of them, and they were all bigger than me). I told them that it was our Honda. They kinda looked each other and acted like it was all a great joke, then they said they didn't know who it belonged to... it had just rolled down the hill into their yard (an obvious lie). Then they just watched me while I drove it home.

I never did figure out what the deal was... was it just jealousy on their part? Did they just see me having a good time, and just want to try and take that away?

It kinda took my innocence away... I still feel slightly afraid when I'm enjoying myself- because I'm afraid that someone might notice and decide to do something nasty.

Thinking about it this morning just made me sad.