Everyone Has a Story

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I hadn't ridden my bike in three days, given all the party prep I felt I needed to do. Well, yesterday, I didn’t ride, because I was a tad, well, I felt like doing nothing and watching “Law & Order” instead after taking Rover to the vet’s.

Note to Party Attendee Readers: Please don’t feel guilty about my party prep or my post-party clean up. I’m walking on air, because I have a clean refrigerator and silverware drawer! And, it was most lovely being with you all again too.

Bill texted me this morning asking me if I wanted to ride when it got warm. I thought it would be warm by noon, but apparently, Bill’s idea of “warm” and mine are radically different. He asked for 10am, and then I texted back that I would be ready by 10:15am. I guess I could have been there by 10am, but it was freaking cold out there!

I filled my water bottles, put on all my gear (tights, an under armor top, and a jacket), got my cell, and then I went out and got my bike. I started down the street, and I said to myself, “SH*T, it’s f*cking cold!”

I met Bill at the rail trail parking lot; it appeared that he and I were the only ones interested in a ride today. I hadn’t seen him in three days, so he filled me in on all the rail trail cycling news. He and I had agreed last week that all the people we rode with and knew on the rail trail, including us, were “quirky.”

For example, every day we ride, we see Richard. He lives in New Hampshire in a trailer, and he drives to the trail in Pepperell every day to ride from Pepperell to Ayer and back again. When he gets to Ayer, he goes to the Dunkin Donuts, gets coffee, and then sits on the cement wall there for a tad and feeds the squirrels. Richard was in Vietnam, suffered a brain injury, and he lives on Social Security and what he gets for disability. As we bike by Richard, we say “Hi, Richard!”, he looks at us, and says “Hi” back. I always noticed his piercing blue eyes, and I always think that Richard really is the best cyclist out there even if he’s not.

As Bill and I cycled down the trail, we caught up. I told him about a job phone screen I had. I started to talk, and then he interrupted and said, “I didn’t ask if they liked you. I asked did JEAN like them?” Funny, but I had NEVER thought of it that way before. And despite the fact that I needed a job, Bill made me think differently than I had the last several months. Should I NEED the job or should the JOB need me?

At an intersection, Bill asked if I wanted to cycle the trail or go on the roads. I opted for the roads. At one point, Bill said, “Do you need Larter field?” This REALLY means “Do you have to pee?” I hadn’t timed my coffee right this morning, so I said, “Yes!”

I know I said previously that I hate port-a-potties, but the one at Larter Field is the best port-a-potty East of the Mississippi; seriously, it must have a triple A rating!

I used the port-a-potty, came back out, and I saw Bill perched on the fence. I sat down, grabbed a granola bar, checked my email (hoping for the job interview that was not there as usual), and then I just sighed.

For whatever reason or the phase of the moon, Bill and I began to talk about our lives, and we sat there for 30 minutes, each of us sharing about our life, but it was not in a way that it would be hard for either of us to roll over on Saturday morning, get on the bike, and face each other again. :-)

Whenever I ride with Bill, he always tells me these wonderful stories; the stories are about his life, his wife’s life, or about friends he knows. Sometimes I’m on my bike, and I think to myself, “God, I wish I had my notebook,” but I don’t carry it on my bike, though I am beginning to think it's a huge mistake!

As Bill and I sat there in the Larter Field parking lot, I felt this huge sense of friendship, especially when Bill said, "Everyone has a story." And, with Bill being almost 20 years older, I also felt a sense of, well, fatherhood that I had never experienced in my life.

As I have learned, life takes people away from you; sometimes they come back, but sometimes, you know there’s no freaking way in hell they’re coming back. In the last few months, I have had the Lovelies come back (Laura, Marcia, Cathy, Anne, and Melissa); and, I even got back the people I used to work with this week. But, the wonderful thing about life, or so I think lately, is when someone comes into your life unexpectedly and fills a HUGE void you’ve felt forever.

That would be Bill, and while life takes people away, you should feel that much more blessed if life gives you a new person to fill a void.
And, I feel that way every day when it comes to Bill.

After we talked, he imparted all of his wisdom on me, and then he said, “Just keep doing what you’re doing, Sunshine.”
Sunshine?!
Wow, what a story, huh?
Everyone has a story, and tonight, this one is mine. <3