When I'm not working out problems, planning meals and grocery lists, or composing blog entries, I do think of other things on my bike rides, such as these things I thought of today:
1. I obsessed (slightly) about salt water taffy. If I had brought money with me on this trip, I would have stopped at Regina's Candies*, the old-fashioned candy store, just four blocks from my house, where they still hand-dip chocolates. The boys just learned about Regina's last fall as we were walking home from a Saturday soccer practice. Yes, I'm the meanest mom in the world for withholding this information, but let's just say that we have to drive by the store every day. And it wouldn't do to have freak outs and meltdowns over licorice whips and Jelly Bellies and the like—every freaking day.
2. It occurred to me that not only should I have money or a credit card with me—just in case I want to stop into Cheapo's or have an Italian soda at Dunn's or pick up something at the grocery store for dinner or need to call a cab if I get a flat and John's in a meeting or, worse, on his bike—but I should also have my driver's license in case a road-raged driver runs me off the road or a senior fails to see me coming through an intersection while he's making a left-hand turn and hits me.**
3. I still need to call Como Zoo to register the boys in half-day sessions of Zoo Camp for week after next, as well as arrange for someone to stay with them when John and I go to Door County to ride one hundred miles in a day. Also, Must. Plan. Camping. Trip.
4. Yesterday, John and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. Fourteen!! We don't buy each other gifts, since the other three occasions on which we exchange presents are nerve-wracking enough. Sometimes we splurge on a joint gift, such as the massive art photography we bought last year. And, we always have a nice meal in a restaurant. In fact, we were just reminiscing over our first anniversary, which we celebrated at Table of Contents 2. Even though we lived together for three years before we tied the knot, I was really nervous about that first year of marriage, feeling like it was a test of some sort. Silly I know. But on our first anniversary, I was worried that John would tell me he wanted out, that he'd given our marriage a year and it wasn't what he thought it would be. When I confessed this waking nightmare, John laughed and said, "I've never had any doubt." Whew!
5. Just as Minnesota has a "critical habitat" license plate, Florida has a "share the road" plate, which was enacted in 1999. The fees go to marketing and support of Bike Florida and the FL Bike Association. Minnesota needs this plate and I would buy one.
6. Settling into the second of three covers, plus the original, of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" on my ipod (Stan Ridgeway's version, if you must know), I fixated on the word fire. And, just like that, I remembered that I left a candle burning in the bathroom, back at home. With the hounds of hell closing in on my tail, I pedalled with a vengeance to get home, cutting my ride short. And, still, I was lapped by a girl on a Surly Cross Check (going downhill) and a dude on a Bianchi San Lorenzo, which is basically my bike with a slightly more racing-style frame. Danger narrowly averted.
* Instead, as soon as I finished my shower, I hopped in the car and drove to Regina's for taffy. Shameful, I know, but I have a laundry-folding date with SATC, Season 2, Disc 2. So there.
** True story. This happened to John. He was fine but his [new] bike frame was a bit dinged and bent.
No comments:
Post a Comment