On The Beach

What can you say about a day like August 9, 2010?




Some of the big days of your life come unexpected.

And some of them - like 8-9-10 - slam into you after months of preparation, dreaming, hard work and sheer grit.

I'm not sure we really knew what we were getting into that morning in Astoria, Oregon when we spun our pedals for the first time.

Certainly looking at her face at the end of that first day I would never have dreamed that this tired girl...

....would turn into this cool biker chick.


We've both changed.

I feel like this 50 day tsunami of life has left me on the sands...


...ready for a new start.




But the key moment...

That watershed moment...

That moment when the water hesitates before careening over the falls...

...it actually happened in Niagara Falls....

...dinner with fellow bikers...

...a glass of wine to loosen the mind...

Steve was commenting that most of the bikers were first borns - type As.

-Which are you? he asked me.

-Born third out of five, I replied.

-That explains why you are different from the rest of us, he said.

-We are all goal oriented Type As

-You are the creative, rebellious one.

Creative?

Rebellious?

In 54 years, no one has ever thought of me that way.



I kinda like it.

For 54 years I've studied, graduated and diagnosed.

Fifty-four years of being daughter, doctor, wife and mom.

Fifty four years that earned the moniker of "driven" as my husband's most apt word to describe me.

Creative, rebellious?

That's my wild daughter Nicky, not me.

Back in Wyoming Alex said, Mom, you've got to stop blogging! You're missing out on the trip!

That's when I realized that blogging - that wonderful mash of words and pics - had become the reason for the trip.

The biking was superfluous.

Creative, rebellious.

That's a new suit I want to try on for a while.

Turn around in the mirror and see how it looks.

Go back to Indiana and see how it feels.

Swim in it.

It all started as a bike ride - a big one, yes - but just a bike ride.

Where it has taken us, we don't know yet.



It will take years to find out.