Monday, May 20, 2013

Vert. Verde. Green.

I have a bike.

It's no ordinary bike. It's awesome. It's a 'coaster'. It has no gears. It has no hand brake. It's blue. It has a basket. It walked out of 1952 and into my life in such a wonderful way.

After surviving a year of nursing school with two babies and one car Brad and I still liked each other. Enough to get each other graduation presents. (!) I got one because 'he couldn't have done it with out me'

Because Brad loves surprises, to be and to get, I had no idea I was getting anything. But I had been talking about getting a bike for quite awhile but had no idea what I wanted. Road bike, mountain bike, some sort of weird hybrid...didn't know. We walked into a sporting goods store one day and I saw it. And fell in love. This super cute bike that was not good for anything except cruising around town. Which was what I wanted to do anyway. As per usual, I daydreamed about the bike for the rest of the day. Mostly about how cool I would look and feel cruising down the road with my bike that had a basket. And I could go to the grocery store, or the library, or wherever and do my errands and ride back knowing all the while that everyone would be so jealous of my cute ride.

Then I forgot about it and inevitably started daydreaming about something else like having an in-ground trampoline or living in a quaint French village for a while.

One day, Brad started acting very shady. Which is what he does when he has something up his sleeve, but he won't give an inch. Totally unlike me, I get so excited about whatever exciting surprise I've thought of that I CANNOT keep it to myself, especially if he knows something is up. And he is pretty perceptive. So he usually knows.

When he got home from school that night he brought me outside after the kids were in bed and introduced me to Lucy. My oh-so-cute Lucy. It just so happened that a girl in his class had a bike JUST like the one I'd been daydreaming about that she was looking to sell. She asked Brad if he knew anyone who wanted one. Amazing.

I rode her around the block barefoot. A little nervous because it had been approximately four years since I'd been on a bike. And it was weird to not have a hand brake. I was like 7 again. But we immediately fell in love.

But the funny thing was that I couldn't figure out why it was so hard to pedal her. I'd been running. I thought I was in pretty good shape. But it was just hard. And we didn't live in a great place to be biking-at the cross roads of two pretty busy streets in St. Louis. And school wasn't over yet. So she sat in the garage for a bit. Then we moved to Lander.

I rode her to the library a few times. I road her to coffee shop a few times. And then it was winter. I still didn't know why it was so hard to ride her. (did I mention that I know NOTHING about bikes?)

This spring I was anxious to get her out and really start using her, so I took her down to the local bike shop to get a tune-up. At this point I realized part of the problem was there was not much air left in her tires, so I had to walk her down to the shop because pedaling made my heart pound out of my chest and sweat bullets.

It took them 3 days to tune her up. It took me 5 weeks to pick her up. I had no thoughts of abandoning her I promise! But, we got sick. And then it snowed. And then Brad went to UT for his birthday. And then it snowed. And then I forgot. And then it snowed. And then it snowed. And then it snowed.

I finally got her and took her out for a spin Saturday. It is unbelievably what a little air in the tires, lubed up chain, and tightened up everything can do. I made a 10 mile loop. It wasn't a great loop to do with a no-gear cruiser bike. The wind was in my face. It was a lot of big hills. But it was so fun. So fun.

And today I took her out to run some errands. SO fun. And I think the best part, for right now is the green.

It's GREEN. Everywhere. The mountains are turning green. The trees are flowering. We are a few months behind lots of other people but I think it makes me that much more ecstatic about it. The fresh air blows in my face and into my lungs and I see vibrant LIFE. And I feel it in my bones. Things are alive. There is life! It came again. Every winter when things are dead it is so hard to imagine that anything alive can every come from those dead branches and brown grass again. But it does. It comes. Every time. And every time I am blown away. I'm blown away by the miracle of the seasons, but also by how my soul seems to follow the seasons. Spring makes me feel alive from the hibernating cold dead of winter.

And to be able to cruise around, not really working at pedaling and breathe that in, to feel it all over is, just, *long contended no words can be found and no words are needed SIGH*

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