Re-routed

My mother recently sold the bicycle I used from when I was about 13 years old to when I was about 17. Don't misunderstand, this was not one of those classic "I can't believe you sold my old [beloved memorabilia here]" moments. I wasn't using it, no one else was, so no big deal.

But I do have some memories of that bike. It's how I did the paper route I had for about two years. And if you'll forgive the "old fogey" cliche this is going to sound like, that paper route was hard work. Every morning, before sunrise. Uphill for two or three miles. Up a steep hill. In the snow, many times. I'll never forget how difficult this paper route was. But that was basically my first job.

I'm pretty much the last generation of children that will ever know what it's like to have a paper route. Right about the time I got my driver's license, my district manager said that my route was being combined with two others and turned into a car route. I took the expanded route and stayed with it for a short while longer before giving it up. It passed on to some adult to continue driving it.

Today, all paper routes in the Denver area (and I'm going to assume pretty much in every other major metropolitan area in the U.S.) are car routes. If you can't drive, you can't have a paper route. To layer on still more cliches, no more "exercise" or "character building" for the kids of this and future generations.

I'm kinda sad to see it go. Much more so than the out-of-date, beat up, old, blue bike.