Penelope Canlas BLOGS: Mi Nombre es Penelope Dawn de Leon Canlas

When I was a little girl, I would always ride my bicycle that my parents had bought for me. After school, I would ride my bicycle up and down our street, and during the weekends I would venture off towards a nearby park. One day, a bright idea popped into my head! I'll make myself a bicycle ramp! I headed towards our garage and grabbed (2) bricks and a piece of plywood. I placed the (2) bricks onto the ground and the piece of plywood atop it, and VIOLA! I built myself my very first bicycle ramp! Geezus! I thought I was a bad ass, but my mum thought otherwise. My mum was very upset with yours truly in taking the their home improvement supplies out of the garage, and turning it into something it was never meant for

One day, my family and I were walking around a shopping mall and something caught the attention of my eyes! It was a motorcross helmet! I begged my parents to buy me that helmet, but it didn't happen. It didn't happen on that day per say. Begging, nagging, and bugging my parents days after first seeing that motorcross helmet didn't help either so I decided to recycle the aluminum cans from our household. After saving enough cash for the motorcross helmet, I asked my parents for us to revisit the shopping mall so I could buy my very own and first motorcycle helmet and it was the best day ever! The greatest day ever! I even wore my motorcross helmet in my parent's car as we drove back home from the shopping mall! That following weekend, I even tried wearing my motorcross helmet inside our Church but my mum wasn't having it. Nada. Zip. Zero. No Bueno

As I grew older, I still enjoyed riding my bicycle and launching off of my homemade ramp but I also added a few tricks under my sleeves which included popping wheelies and endos. One day as I was riding my bicycle towards a nearby park, I saw a couple of boys doing tricks on their bicycle, launching off of their homemade ramps, and riding the half pipe! It was amazing and it totally blew my mind! I decided to approach the boys for a closer view and watch them perform their tricks and stunts on their bicycles. I even thought to myself that maybe I could become their friends or be a part of their bicycle club, but I was wrong. Dead wrong. As I approached the boys and introduced myself, they began laughing at me, teasing me, screaming at me, ridiculed me on how generic my bicycle was, and even dared to ask why I was wearing a bloody fucking motorcross helmet. To top if off, the boys even said that I would never be able to perform the tricks and stunts that they did because of the mere fact that I was a girl. Their behavior and words definitely hurt me, and I rode my bicycle back home as fast as I could

I hid in the back of our house and cried, and cried, and cried, until I decided to take off my motorcross helmet and throw it onto the ground saying to myself "Who the fuck was I fooling? I will never be able to do tricks or stunts that the boys were doing! I'm just a Girl." My mum just so happened to come toward the back of our home to yell at me because I had forgotten to put away my homemade ramp I had left in the front of our driveway and realized I was crying. I tried my best to hide back my tears, but my mum had already seen me crying from afar. "What's wrong?" my mum asked. "Nothing mumma," I replied. "I'm alright," but my mumma kept asking me "What happened!" Unable to stop crying, I decided to tell my mumma the whole story. And as I told my mumma my story, she picked up my motorcross helmet from the ground, handed it to me, and gave me the biggest hug ever. My mumma then kneeled down, and yelled at me "Stop being a little bitch!" Just kidding! My mumma didn't say that, but she should have done so. She then begins to tell me "You will always have someone telling you that will never be to to do things that boys can do, but it is up to you if you want to believe them OR be challenged and show them that you are greater!"

Fast forward a couple years ahead, and my papa decided to take me out for some adventures on his dirt bikes during the weekends! OHHHHHH SYET! That was it! That was what I was talking about son! SYET! And till that day forward, I've always told myself "I can and I will!" Sure, I may have a lot of bumps and bruises here and there, but no one said it was going to be easy. And Yes, I may have not been able to do what those boys did at the time but I do know now that I can do it better than those boys in the present

Mi Nombre es Penelope Dawn de Leon Canlas #kissmypwet #anythingispossible #ridelikeagirl

Penelope Canlas BLOGS