Celebration!!!

My youngest daughter who will be 11 tomorrow, has wanted a "two wheel" bike for quite some time, but has been absolutely petrified to ride one. I had been offering to buy a bike and teach her for years, but she has absolutely refused to allow me... This past week, I took her up to my girlfriends house, where her son has a small bike that he no longer rides. I strapped on a few training wheels and got her on the bike. The bike and the training wheels are designed for much smaller children, but they gave her the sense of security she needed. However they didn't really prevent her from falling or getting frustrated when she couldn't turn or move the bike the way she wanted. Well it's been a week... I have been raising the training wheels further and further up, so they didn't touch the ground, until she was riding the bike without the training wheels touching at all... I had her stop, and I took of the training wheels... She immediately when into panic mode, and told me she couldn't ride without the wheels... I explained to her that she has been riding the bike with the wheels so far up they didn't touch, and she didn't need them.... I tried to explain to her it was like Dumbo and the Magic Feather... She could do it on her own, and she didn't need the feather any longer. I was surprised that neither her or my girlfriend's son got the reference... I thought these kids watched Disney movies! :-) Anyway, she was nervous, but did it... The look on her face when she realized she could do it without any help was priceless!!! She was proud of herself, and I was even more proud of her. She overcame a huge fear in her life, and succeeded! It was a great day! My girlfriend gave her a ice cream bar to celebrate, her son offered his old bike to her as a reward, and she went to bed later happy and content!