Back to our regular programming

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.– Maya Angelou

I saw this quote in an email signature for a headache webinar I attended.

I suppose sobs are breathless. Laughter is breathless.

There can be no joy unless there is sadness.
This too shall pass.

My dad is okay for now. I called a bunch of home care companies. I felt like I’ve done something, even if it’s really nothing. Information is power?
My friend in the hospital is apparently eating and talking now. I still don’t know what happened, but I’m hoping he’ll be able to call me soon to tell me, if he remembers. His daughter’s been texting updates. Whatever it was, it was bad.
My friend with previous skin cancer has gotten the ball rolling for an assessment asap, and that’s something. I’ll take something over nothing.

I sent my kids to their first day of bike camp today. My daughter was less than enthused, and my son was out of his skin with excitement. They rode trails they know well, and my son was thrilled that he got bumped up to his sister’s group because he was fast.

This meant I had all day to ride.

Except I had a crap ton (not just a ton, you see) of work I had to do, and every evening when I sit down to do it, my mind is elsewhere, and I throw in the towel after a half-assed attempt at concentration and opt to do something else instead, like planks. Or bleeding my brakes. Or laundry. I did, by the way, bleed my brakes (in our dining room) in half the time it took me last time. And I did a better job of it than last time too.

So I had the morning to ride my bike. Urgent? No. Important? Yes.
It is one of the best parts of my day, and among the things that bring me joy and force me to be in the moment, forgetting all else.

A friend took a picture of me at the trail exit and I look like a dork, but a happy dork, and that’s all that matters right now I think.

We got to ride for longer than usual, and without trying to chase daylight or make school pickup. It was positively leisurely.

I got home and properly cleaned my bike, washed my hair for the first time in seven days, and it was all quite glorious. Then I finished a report and a few invoices, and tomorrow, have one more report and a file review left, and prep for clinic on Monday. If I can get it all done, it’ll leave Wednesday free for a day of riding (assuming no more unexpected emails with extra files.)

Then I got a series of these in messages from a friend with arrows and circles all over.
He has been looking at Strava heatmaps for all the secret new trails that have been built lately, with the objective that we’ll find them and explore. This one in particular I mentioned wanting to check out, and he’s noted a new one beside it as well… The thing is, his schedule recently changed, and now his days off are my work days, and this sucks because last summer, we were in sync and some of the trails we found were pretty spectacular.

Also, I have a bike park pass and it seems fewer people I usually ride park with have bought them this year, which means I will be doing a lot of launching off jumps by myself. Good thing I bought a full armoured shirt (and shorts). Bad thing is how hot it gets. I’ve taken to wearing it over a tank top on hot days, which is ultimately not cool at all (the cool kids wear it under a jersey), but whatever. I’m forty. I cannot afford to break myself right now.

I am getting so good at giving fewer f*cks about what people think. I tried to take this sexy shirt off in the parking lot the other day. It was hot as balls and I was a sweat bucket, and I stood there fighting with this shirt as it stuck to me, while some greasy dude sat on the flatbed of his truck and watched with bemusement. I did eventually get it off.
It was totally undignified.
That guy watching didn’t help the situation. (Not that I’d have wanted him to.)
But the relief. Oh, the relief. Like peeing after a long day of not.

I’m looking forward to when things go back to bland. I don’t want too much struggle or excitement or drama; just happy kids, happy husband, happy friends, healthy everyone, and some good old soul-saving bike time. Until I get bored I suppose.