The Gift

I wanted to give a gift. A gift of enjoyment to those I used to ride with at work. The idea formulated from what had become our Annual Bike Rally. This tradition came to a sudden end one June day this year. The ride I had planned for the group was ridden by me alone in a somber farewell tribute to times now past. We are scattered now and no longer ride together.
Before the summer ended, I wished to reunite the group with a better ride than I could have planned in an hour’s time during a work day. So the idea blossomed into organizing an all day ride. I pitched my idea to Andy and he was willing to help. We rode the route twice more, and made modifications to the original. We planned and timed the stops, measured the miles, and considered the lunch stop. We built in a photo opportunity. The thought here was for a group shot that participants could keep as a memento.
For several days, using the notes we had taken, I mapped out the route in two separate but popular formats. I gathered information about all of the riders who had ever passed through the doors of our technology lab and typed an invitation to them all. To my surprise, I had only one acceptance. “No matter” Andy said. “If it is important to you then it is important to him as well. We go.”
I am not sure of the reason I felt my gift would be accepted by more people. What I believe now is that I wanted the gift for myself. Despite the one taker, I was not disappointed, for the one rider who accepted, had also been the one rider who followed me to work, to ensure my safety, when first I learned to ride. It was a fitting and appropriate gift to us both.