When Luci and I ride the CETMA to and from work (for me) and preschool (for her), we turn a lot of heads.

Riding through campus, the young women often mumble “aww cute.” I like to pretend they mean me, knowing full well they are referring to Luci in the bucket.

Other bike riders often ride up next to us and ask questions about the bike, how it handles, where I got it and more.

Yesterday however, what started out as a typical 20 questions about the bike turned into something a little more poignant.

A gentleman on a bike pulled up to us at a light after we passed him heading north on Mountain Avenue. It started out with the typical, “Did you build it?” question. About 90 percent of all conversations related to the bike begin this way.

Eventually he said something about how fun it must be for Luci to ride in the bucket. He turned to her and asked if it was fun to ride on the bike.

She said yes, but not loud enough for him to hear her over the traffic so he didn’t catch it.

When he thought she sort of shrugged of his question, he said something that really struck me.

He said, “I guess it’s just another way to get home.”

While I hope Luci has fun riding bikes and remembers all the time we spend together riding out bikes to school and work, if when she is older, she sees a bike as “just another way to get home,” I will have succeeded.