Monday, August 24, 2009

Day twenty four

Today was Anthony's first day back after summer break, on top of which the girls and I were set to start up with our homeschooling again so I was slightly nervous about getting out on my daily ride. I knew that if I didn't plan things down to the minute everything would be ruined and my exceedingly precise morning schedule would combust, leaving me in my drive-way sobbing and screaming over the fact that that's all I want to do is take a freaking bike ride and why, oh why don't things ever work out for me, I mean really now is it too much to ask that I get to take a simple bike ride, is it, and do you all want me to be fat for the rest of my life, is that what you want family of mine?

I have no idea if people know how dramatic I am. I try to keep it under raps. It takes a huge amount of effort though and it can be exhausting. The fact that I have four inconsistently disciplined children, a poorly behaved dog who escapes almost daily, and a husband who has an uncanny knack for tuning me out provides me with constant opportunity to try and resist losing my cool. It's good for the soul to live in such a state.

Anyway, the most upsetting thing about this morning was that my bike was waiting to be taken into the shop for some minor fixes and so I had to take Jane's Trek out for my ride. I'm not a fan of any bike but my own. On top of being dramatic I'm quiet inflexible and resistant to change. I think I'm turning into a crotchety old fart. The seat on my bike is adjusted perfectly, the handle bars are exactly as I like them, the gears slide in and out smoothly and quickly, the lights are in proper places, the chain never, ever falls off. Everything just feels right and good when I'm on my bike. Riding Jane's bike is like playing some sort of bicycle Russian Roulette. You don't know when the chain will fall off, but you can bet it will and probably when you are in darkest section of town, farthest from home and most likely when you are going up or down a steep hill. So I was just a bundle of nerves when I left my house this morning.

Of course because I anticipated the worst I ended up having a great ride. I'm programmed to expect the worst. If things go mildly crappy it's like winning the lottery. Several years ago I was stupid enough to doubt this way of thinking but I must say, it's not a half bad way to go about life. Well, it might be a little bad but today it worked out well for me and I was thrilled with my ride.

Oh and I actually learned something interesting on my bike today. I learned that bike riders must follow the same traffic rules as car drivers in regards to stop signs. I won't tell you how I came to this information. I'll just say that I now know if you are on a bike and you come to a four way stop sign, or any stop sign for that matter, you're supposed to stop and if you don't and an officer sees you,the officer can give you a ticket. If you act stupid, smile nervously and claim ignorance, the officer will be nice and let it go, but he'll tell you if he sees you doing it again he'll be well within his rights to write you up a ticket. And if you are like me you'll wonder where that officer was last week when your tire popped in the same exact location, forcing you to walk over an hour to get back home. Anyway, the learning never stops around here, not for the kids and not for me so I am grateful to him for that.

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