Yvonne Mendez

My Body Became A Liability

I hopped on my bike and started riding. The day was warm and the sunlight broke through the trees with majesty. My bike isn’t fancy, but I love my beat up silver Specialized. I always wear my helmet for safety, but now I add my facemask. It’s Massachusetts’s law to wear it outside and I wear it like a “chin-diaper” pulling it up over my nose when passing folks either on a bike or people walking on the path. I love the power I feel in my legs, pedaling my body through space on this bike. It is at once, exhilarating. My body tingles with sheer joy.