Back in the Saddle , Cowboy
Ever have one of those down times? For just a bit? I just did. The sucky part is, when you're down, you don't feel like much. You don't feel like much as a person and you simply don't feel good physically. However, the silver lining is, if you're like me, they don't last long. You pull up and out of the nosedive and feel the rush of G-forces as your life takes flight like a Blue Angel roaring into a bright sky.
I've spent the past week, cleaning, working, revamping life end to end, pushing onward toward my next adventure. First thing this morning, I received a wonderful email from someone I'd never met, one "Supriya Uchil" who gave me a quote that turned it all around for me:
"Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain that is pouring like an avalanche, coming down the mountain."
This quote was like a bomb in my darkness, exploding the dark shades drawn over my windows. The sun has shined through since. I'd love to put down in words all of the things I've been dealing with of late, but to tell the truth, I simply don't have the time for them now that they're gone and why bother you with the inconsequential details of my life?
In the past 24 hours, I have purchased all the items I need for my upcoming solo cross country bike odyssey from Miami, Florida to San Diego, CA. I depart on October 31. I have a possible new offer for writing a book. I have been contacted by great businesses that have turned things around for me financially for the new ventures I've recently undertaken and I've spent the day sorting and going through files and paperwork dating back to 1965.
1965???? Yes. I found my birth certificate. There's something about seeing on paper the document which states that you've started your adventure in this life. It's got my parent's ages on it. It has my first address which I never knew. It's just five minutes from where I currently sit: 7401 Rainier Ave. South. In a bit, I will drive by and see if the house is still standing or if it's been replaced by a Home Depot or 7-11. Regardless, it's where Mom and Dad first laid me down in a crib after I was delivered by one Dr. S.P. Lehman, M.D. at Swedish Hospital on March 5, 1965. i search the local directory and found a Sanford P Lehman on Mercer Island. A quick call to the number reveals that sadly he is deceased as of five or six years ago. I was hoping to thank him for going to medical school, thank him for slapping my butt and bringing me into the world, thank him for not dropping me on my head.
I also found a document with my parents graves on it. Abbey Cemetery, 3600 Alaska Rd, Brier, Washington. I'm setting aside some time to visit them and thank them before I set off on my bike journey. I've never been there and it's time to go and see what I've always been afraid of for some reason. Now, going feels more like a chance to say thank you to them as well before setting off.
I found a letter from some old family friends in Eastern Washington to my parents. I wrote them a letter thanking them for helping my Grandmother to raise me and I mailed their letter back in the even they keep a scrapbook of memories. I paid bills, I put addresses into my rolodex, I shredded unneeded papers, I tossed pounds of junk mail. I did dishes, I watered plants, I fed the dog. I massaged the dog's hips. I drank a Fat Tire beer...good stuff. I save it for special occaisions like this by keeping it behind the Coors Light I serve guests. Sshh...don't tell anyone.
Life is good. Life is really good. I'm having a moving sale tomorrow and I'm shedding most everything I own. No more furniture. No more crap. Life is clean. Life is uncluttered. Life is about to be a long open highway leading west where I will ride for days and days into a sunset before pitching my new 3 pound single person tent from REI.
I love my life. I don't know why, but I just always have and probably always will. Wanna do the same? Take a minute to go back to the beginning. Dig out the birth certificate. Work your way to the present. My guess is there's a lot to smile about. Drink from the fountain pouring like an avalanche down a mountain...what the hell, drink so much you drown yourself in all the great memories. Life is here to be lived and lived out loud as my friend Martin says. I used to scream "I love my life" until someone made fun of me for doing it. Then I got self-consious, felt like people were laughing at me, not with me. After a couple of years of thinking about it, I think the person who did that can simply shove it. I'm not usually one to make statements like that, but to tell you the truth, here and there, you gotta push back and do things your way. Other people's rules are simply that. Rules for other people. Create your own rules. Live by them. Laugh by them. Grow old by them. What else is there? Not much. Not much at all.