I don’t know how I did it, but I made it back to our

house alive. Our parents asked where we had gone,

The Long Journey
and my brother casually answered, ‘’Just around.’’
Juco Antonio Rivera
I’m not exactly sure if our parents were entirely
convinced, seeing as I was sniffling and sweating like
When I was eight years old, my older brother
crazy. I vowed to myself I would never do that again,
and I hatched this plan to bike all the way from
our house to our uncle’s house, which was a good not even for an hour of video games. it was too big a
three kilometers away. The reason? To play video price to pay.
games with our cousin’s son’s video game
I look back at that event in my life with a sense of
console-- a luxury which we weren’t able to enjoy
amusement at how daring I was… and also how
at home.
We told our parents we would bike around foolish. Imagine! All that hardship and difficulty and
the neighborhood. Of course, we didn’t tell them pain I put myself through just to play video games.
where we were going because we knew they What was I thinking?
would give us an adamant “no”. And yet, if I could see my eight-year-old self in front
My brother had an advantage over me. of me right now, I’d tell him I’m proud of him! I’d tell
Apart from being older and stronger, he also ar him for taking risks and for going on that long
owned a bike with gear settings. This mean he journey. I’d congratulate him for not being careful,
could cover a good amount of distance and exert for being a kid-at-heart, and for testing limits of his
less effort in pedaling than he normally would body and mind.
with a regular bike. I, unfortunately, exert less
effort in pedaling than he normally would with a I’d thank him for changing my life.
regular bike. I, unfortunately did not have gear
settings. Add to that the fact that I had eight-year-
old legs that were not used to bike three
kilometers distance while under the blazing heat
of an angry sun.What I thought would be a fun
bike ride to my uncle’s place became a journey
of extreme turmoil. As beads of sweat broke all
over my body, I could feel throbbing pain on my
tired legs. Each push on the pedal of my bike felt
like I was pushing against a boulder. More than
once I had to call out my brother to slow down
or to stop altogether just so I could catch my
breath. However did not allow myself to get
discouraged. My eight-year-old self needed to
play video games.
We got to my uncle’s house and stayed there for an
hour. My aunt, uncle, and cousins were bit surprised
to see us, but they didn’t find it odd that we were
there so they allowed might start worrying and
looking for us,, my brother and I decide to make our
way back, and and so I was exhausted halfway back.
By this time my mind was filled with all sorts of
‘’Why do we have to live so far away?’’ Eventually, I
did what any self-respecting eight-year-old would
do:I cried. I slammed on the brakes and let the tears
flow down my eyes words of comforts and stayed
with me until I was ready to push on again.