As I see posts all over Facebook and Blogger about what people are thankful for, I decided that I just had to actually sit down and write this blog that's been in my mind for a few months now.
It was late afternoon one day this summer. I'd had a hectic day and really wanted to squeeze in some "me" time. The best (or most enjoyable) way for me to do that is ride my road bike. But it was getting close to when I'd hit darkness and I have no light for my bike plus I just really like being in the sunshine. (I swear I am part plant and photosynthesize.) In the end I decided that it would be motivation. I was going to do my 60-minute route but would have to go all out to beat the streetlights turning on.
Toward the end of my ride I came up to the last of four really awkward road crossings. This one you approach as you're headed down a steep, curvy path and it's a narrow dip in the pavement following a sharp turn that puts you out into the street -- at which point you can look for cars/other obstacles. There was a woman standing exactly in the middle of the sidewalk dip. She was straddling her bike, but looked confused. I stopped to see if she was OK -- but before you think I'm a good Samaritan, I should admit that the other choice I had was to run directly into her.
We had this amazing conversation standing there in our funny little bike-riding outfits straddling our bikes. She's a breast cancer survivor. She spent 3 months debating about buying a bike and hauled several people to the store with her to look at them. She trusted her son's opinion most, but didn't want the bike he liked. So she and I discussed her bike and why it fit her (I think she made the right decision -- even if it was partly based on the fact that she liked the color). She told me her "daughter" (who is not really her daughter but who is married to her nephew) told her to keep her iPod turned down low while riding so she could cross intersections safely. And her other daughter (not sure if this one is a biological daughter or not) said to watch our for scary things. We laughed about that phrase. This daughter has a 3-year old and sometimes lets her "kiddie speak phrases" spill over into her adult conversations. It was an amazing little community she had and I loved hearing all the support and how she'd been using this as part of her breast cancer recovery. Very inspiring. We also compared monthly mileages and routes. We talked about how much riding made us feel free and how we liked being outside and going "fast". Then she asked me something odd:
Do you ever just do something crazy?
Um, well, I've known you about 15 minutes and only because you're blocking the path. You seem cool, but you're also about 15 years older than me. So I'm unsure if our definitions of "crazy" are the same.
Turns out she had a $100 bet with some girlfriends. They had a lunch planned at The Fort. So she mentioned she might just ride out there and back. They scoffed at her since that's probably a 30-40 mile ride (one way) for her. I told her it would be long based on her current mileage, but it totally sounded reasonable. And if she wanted a ride home, couldn't they just throw the bike in the car? I hope she did it. That's not so crazy after all - it was just a new adventure for her.
At that point we realized that it was basically almost dark -- and prior to our chat we'd both been trying to race home to beat the darkness. She said something about it being scary to ride in the dark (guess her daughter knew was she was talking about after all!). So we rode most of the way to her house together and then I peeled off for my last couple blocks. It actually was a little scary riding in the dark...
So I just wanted to share with you all one thing I am thankful for: uplifting chance encounters where you feel like somehow you were supposed to be in that moment even though it was not at all in your plan. A bit wordy, but it's one of my favorite things.
Oh, and you guessed it. Her name is Bonnie.
