I made a quick trip to Kentucky this weekend. It was a chance to see family, watch the world’s most famous horse race with people who have some understanding of what they’re watching, eat a lot of food, and go turkey hunting. Well, at least go sit in the woods and call for turkeys. This turkey season wasn’t very successful for many and my one hunt of the season ended early when there was no activity.

On my way on Friday, I took a detour. It’s one of my favorite detours to take, turning south instead of north when I get to Knoxville. I left home early and rushed through lunch on the road so that I would be waiting when two of my favorite people got off the school bus at the end of their week. I even got a few minutes with their younger brother beforehand to continue my work to ingratiate myself with him. He’s easier to interact with now that he’s talking more, but it’s still a work in progress. At least now he has a few balls to play with in the house; throwing a ball is an easy way to bond with a little boy.

Once it stopped raining, the girls wanted to go outside and ride their bicycles. The older has been able to ride her bike for a while now and lazed up and down the driveway talking to everyone as she went, long hair flowing in her wake. The younger has been learning how to ride without training wheels. She was so very close to doing it all by herself. Once she got going, she could pedal and steer and go and go all the way down their long driveway. She was having difficulty, though, with starting and needed a push to generate initial forward momentum. She enlisted me to help. First, I had her change her shoes so that her feet would stop slipping off the pedals so much. Then we worked on the technique of positioning the pedals with one at the top and one at bottom. Then she practiced kicking off with her standing leg. Then she practiced kicking off and pedaling down hard with the initial motion. Then she put everything together, wobbling a little, and starting under her own power. It was amazing how quickly she progressed.

Later that evening, I received a video of her starting and pedaling and riding up the driveway all by herself. She was showing off for her dad after he got home from work. She was beaming. I’m not about to take any real credit for teaching her. All I did was give her a few final tips. No, the thing that stuck with me is that she had all of the skills in place already and just needed one more technique, that final 1%, to achieve her goal. I just wish it were easier to tell in my own projects when I’m that close to seeing results. And her smile; her smile stuck with me too.