I remembered…

The day started normal enough.  Coffee and toast.

The drive to my client was pretty standard too.  Our time together was anything but.  We covered some new “discovery” ground, reminded him of “why we are here,” and identified what it looks like to have “shoot in your eyes.”  Two hours disappeared in a blink and I was back in my car headed for the barn.  

Smiling.

I called all the boys on the way back and reminded them where we were meeting.  We were riding.  They didn’t know where and, I don’t think, they even cared.  IT was just one of those days.  Sunny and perfect.  A great day for our last big ride of 2009.  Not our last ride of 2009, mind you, but our last LONG one.  We never stop riding.  Moving on.

Everybody met at our house and was right on time.  Except for M&M.  He was, an uncharacteristic, 20 minutes late.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally he arrived and off we went.  The night before, the route had come to me.  

I remembered…

Instead of doing our “normal” ride which is to ride into the wind to start and finish with the breeze at our back, I chose a route for it’s significance.  We headed east up Orange road.  Five miles into it we found ourselves stopped again.  The slowest train in the world set us back another five.  I was beginning to re-think the route because we were now thirty minutes behind schedule.  

I guess, I was still in “work” mode.

About 10 miles later it was all smiles.  I knew where we were going and how we were going to get there.  Nobody else had a clue.  We talked and talked and talked.  Petey mostly sat in the back and smiled with his new Mellow Johnny’s bibs.  NICE.

At about mile 18 Peteboy waved goodbye and headed for home.  He had a client flying in and was sad to leave us but glad he had worked it in.  The wind was blowing us out and it felt like it was picking up speed.  We certainly were.  

Somewhere around mile 20, Markelage asked the Chambermaid if he knew where we were going.  The Chambermaid responded that he did NOT, but that he knew this road was headed to Johnstown.  He’d been on it before.  That was all it took for M&M.  He remembered.  He blurted it out without thinking…

“We’re going to ride where we started the season.  Where you,me, and Larry rode back in April.  We’re going to do those hills, toward Utica, and near Granville,” he said.  And then it hit him.  We’re going to do the last big ride we did with Larry.  I smiled and gave him the look.

Finally, I thought to myself, everybody knows where we’re going.  AND, now they know “why.”  

As we entered Johnstown I saw the familiar gas station and there was the parking lot where we had began our big ride that cold, April morning, just six short months ago.  My mind raced back to the three of us that beautiful, Spring morning.  I remembered…

My heart felt both the heaviness of the memory and the blessing of it all in the same moment.  As I glanced over, one more time, before the turn out of Johnstown, I could feel my heart and my face lining up.  I was smiling.

We turned left onto route 62 and immediately the Chambermaid wanted to know how long before we turned off this nightmare.  The road that is.  It wasn’t long and the country rode beckoned.  We road and road and road.  I got us lost, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes NOT.  We struggled up Reynolds Road, met a crazy on Chatham Lane and eventually found our way, with a little “gut check” help from our pickup friends, back to Sportsmanclub Road.  We were now at mile 62 and we had confirmation that we were, in fact, on our way HOME.  

The wind was now our enemy but it didn’t seem to much matter.  The strongest riders just stayed out front a little longer and us weaker ones did NOT.  Nobody cared, nobody was trash talking any more.  The only chatter on the way home was about the way the sun was hitting the leaves.  The colors were magnificent. Larry would have loved this ride.  M&M corrected me, Larry is…

We smiled and somehow I felt myself feeling a little stronger and up to the front I wandered.  Not for long, mind you.  Not for long…

By mile 75 we all were back to familiar roads, we could all relax.  Especially Markelage.  He’s never sure that I’m ever going to get us home.  I’ve got a reputation for getting us lost, I guess.  Even he was taking it all in NOW.

The barn was now in site.  Home sweet home at long, last.  It had been nearly 5 hours since we had started this journey and our legs were telling us they had had enough.  We pulled into my drive and I offered the boys a beer.  That decision did not take long.  I brought out frosted mugs and four beers.  Not just any beers, mind you.  These beers had been specially purchased.  They were Keefe.  What was so special about ’em?

This was the beer we drank when we rode in France.  The Chambermaid remembered.  M&M smiled and I could tell he too was remembering.  

We sat down on the back porch and told stories and laughed.  It had been quite a day to remember.  This one would stand out from all the other days.  This one would remind us that we are made by days like this as much as we are made for days like this.  Life isn’t designed to be lived by the crackberry, rushing around from one twenty minute meeting to another.  Life is meant to be savored, respected, and shared with those that we LOVE.  AND, great lives are about integrating, not balancing those LOVES.  Study history and this you will see.  I guarantee it.

AND, yesterday did not end on the porch.  Yesterday ended at the soccer field with Miss and Tay and me losing my car.  Temporarily.  And laughing about that for sure.  AND going to The Hickory and eating steak with Susie, Natjane, Leah, my Miss and Mr. T..  And my gosh did we laugh.  We laughed so hard that Susie commented her ab’s hurt as she walked to the car.  Very cool…

Yesterday will be remembered.  Yesterday, I remembered.  Yesterday I planned and lived a day to remember.  Lord willing, there will be more.  Today, as I prepare to take Miss toward her surgery, I’m hoping for nothing.  Nothing to remember today, would be just fine.  Yesterday…

I remembered.

What will you remember about today?

What are you doing to make memories in your work and in your life?

Are you too busy to create days to really remember?

Remember when you’re 90 you will wish for the 3 R’s.  Ninety year olds, when asked what they would do different consistently answer with the 3 R’s.

They wish they would have taken more risks.

They wish they would have invested more time in the relationships that matter.

AND, they wish they had reflected more.

Hmmm.  Maybe you and I would benefit from some reflection.  Today, lets

Slow down and reflect…