March 3, 2020: Falling in Love Again

"We all remember the ones who

touched our heart so deeply that our

heartbeats began to dance and reminded

us to live once again." 

Mimi Novic

I have already been to Pilates and the weight room, but the day calls to me speaking of sunshine and warmth.  It is in the low 50's, and while quite windy, still seductive.  And it does not take long after I swing my leg over the bike and settle in the saddle to realize that I am in love again:  in love with bicycling and the way it allows me to watch the world yawn and awaken in a way that driving cannot.

I pass Helen Trueblood's and stop to admire the deep, dark purple crocuses and the first of the Easter flowers, bright and yellow, braving the season, daring it to nip her.  As I pause for a photo, wishing I had brought me other camera, a hawk flies overhead and whistles.  "Is that you, Helen?" I think.  "Are you glad that someone still enjoys your magnificent yard?"  For Helen left us not so very long ago.  Last year as I cycled past the heirs were tearing down her house, but the beautiful daffodil garden she created remains and will repeatedly draw me in that direction during the spring.  

I can't say that we really knew each other, but her daffodil show was on my 9 mile running loop when I used to be able to run long distances, and we chatted a few times briefly.  Daffodils were her passion and she was known for this, and not just locally.

I move onward.  Frogs are beginning to stir and their song rises to a crescendo in certain areas, screaming of spring.  I pass a ground hog who sees me and scurries frantically away.  I grin thinking of the commercial and so I say, "Hey, you wood chucks, quit chucking that wood."  For some reason, that commercial made me grin.  

I am pleased with me legs.  The pace is slow, particularly going westward into the wind, but they have a strength I did not think they would have after this morning.  Now tomorrow, that may be a different story, but for today they are fine so long as I can meander, and I can.

Yes, today I am fully and whole-heartedly back in love with my bicycle and I dream of the rides to come.  My heart dances at the thought of seeing friends that I have not seen for awhile, and I glory in being alive.