Reflection

I remember my first solo motorcycle ride. The clouds scuttled across the sky and a stiff breeze bent the tall grasses along the roadway. The engine rumbled beneath me, the road twisted ahead in an unending ribbon of mystery in ways I had never seen before. The smell of leather mixed with the heady scents of spring. My emotions were a mixture of exhilaration and fear. My mind occupied with a million rapid fire instructions and distractions causing my knees to jump from the adrenaline rush. The thoughts unfolding in kaleidoscope fashion as neuron transmitters fired this instruction and that.

“Watch where you want the motorcycle to go.”
“Counter steer through that strong gust of wind.”
“Look at the birds returning from their wintering grounds.”
“Smell the sweetness of the spring earth.”
“You control the motorcycle, it does not control you.”

Every instruction I learned in the motorcycle safety course played in an unending loop. After 77 miles I pulled into my drive, exhausted!

How things have changed. In one day over the weekend I traveled more than 300 miles, just to enjoy lunch at a favorite lake in Maine. With gentle Blaze beneath me, we need no self talk, just quiet enjoyment together.

Along the way we stop, I dismount, and together we have a moment of silent reflection, and send a prayer of thanks for the liberties we enjoy that allow such moments as this possible.

From 2009 season