Ridin'

In my late 20's and early 30's I spent a lot of weekend days the boonies with my dirt-riding buddies: my best friend, Dan, and my brother, Denis. We would spend full days riding our motorcycles through mud, dirt, rain, snow, and everything else, pausing only occasionally to smoke a bowl or munch a candy bar while hiding beneath a dripping fir tree.

I was usually the instigator of our weekend forays into the damp Pacific Northwest forests, and if it was raining that didn't stop me. I'd pick up the phone Saturday morning and call Dan.

"You ready to go?" I'd ask, knowing his answer.

"It's pouring down rain!" he'd groan, trying to talk me out of it.

"Damn right--perfect for bike riding!"

It was always the same song and dance, and with the same results: We went ridin'. As we would say, "The worst day ridin' is still a damn good day."

Good times.

My Favorite Copilot

One of the best chapters of my life began when Sarah was born. I was privileged to see her arrival into the world, and from that time on I couldn't get enough of her.

One of my favorite activities was reading books to her. Being the garage sale shoppers that we were, we amassed a considerable library of kids books. We always selected the books with interesting story lines, nice artwork, rhymes, and all sorts of various creative criteria. In other words, we didn't pick just any book. The end result of our efforts was a shelf that contained over 600 books. When she was at her toddler stage she would arm herself with as many books as she could carry (which was quite a few since they were mostly softcover books), wander over to where I was sitting, plop the pile in my lap, and climb up. She would pay rapt attention to everything before her, absorbing every word and picture like it was the only thing in the world at that moment. When I eventually would close the last one, it was not at all uncommon for her to go directly over to her bookshelf and repeat the process. She didn't grab just any books either--she was as selective with her choices as we were when we first bought them. She had favorites, but she loved them all.

Sarah was copilot in my old 1962 Chevy 4x4 when she was a toddler. I loved having her sitting next to me as I drove around!  She sat in a forward-facing booster seat we found at a garage sale that placed us almost shoulder to shoulder when she was strapped in, sitting as tall as we did. She enjoyed seeing the world unfold before her eyes as we drove around. She had a great view of everything instead of being hidden way down low the way most small kids are kept in car seats. I wanted her to see what I saw!