Celebrating #39 Today

November 22, 2010
Colorado, USA

Fort Collins, Co -- Thirty-Nine Years... 1971... that's a long time to be in the life of someone you picked up in your teen years - isn't it? A good many people can claim close relationships of that longevity only with parents or siblings.

But here we are... Me and Tim... rolling in on the close of 39 years of marriage. As the GD put it - what a long, strange trip it's been. Rolling being the operative word here... who knew when we purchased our first Harley in the Summer of 2008 and our second Harley in the Spring of 2010 that the Harley would steer our course away from what is considered normal for our age? Sure after 39 years we have some tales to tell of a life together that has had its ups and downs... not to mention a few weird turns and bumps in the night. When I look back on it though, those interesting, fun, exhilarating times in our past pale in comparison to what appears to be in our future.

Our story these days is all about we three -- Tim, the Harley and Me.

We are an Old-Fashioned Love Song. In the words of a song by Three Dog Night (incidentally, released in 1971)...

Just an old-fashioned love song
One I'm sure they wrote for you and me
Just an old-fashioned love song
Comin' down in 3-part harmony

About the time we had reconciled to the idea that the fun stuff was winding down, that our future was about property and taxes, rocking chairs on the porch and health care, that our wild and careless glory days were just tell-again stories for bored grand children, along came a Harley and we realized the really fun stuff was all ahead of us - not behind us. Uh - some people call this our second childhood. To those unenlightened few - we say - so be it! If in the end we cannot set a good example, we will content ourselves with being a horrible warning - ha!

We can blame - perhaps a better word is credit - the Folks for the sudden philosophical change. Yep, it was the two of them in cahoots with each other... that set the world on two wheels. Mom made certain Dad got his butt back in the saddle of a Harley (2007) after fifty some-odd years and the rest, as they say, is history... Fortunately, we weren't so far gone that we couldn't see that Dad (in his 70s) was having a heckuva good time out there and yeah, we wanted in on it. The only regret we have about that is -- we didn't do it years and years ago.

For certain, my 25 year old butt, legs and knees would have faired better in the saddle... but I doubt my eyes would have seen the open road quite as clearly, despite tri-focals. I doubt the view from a frosty mountain-top or a sunset on the desert plains or riding beside the stillness of a glassy lake at dawn or a road that stretched beyond the range of vision over the horizon would burn itself so permanently into the memory of the mind's eye.

There are whole segments of my youth I cannot remember. Faces, places, names and more escape recall.

In contrast, every single mile on the Harley and every single moment shared with Tim rolling down some stretch of road on the Harley I can recall in vivid clarity...

I guess it's all the better for the struggle to get here. Back then (closer to the beginning of US), I doubt time, money, jobs, the kid, the dogs and other restraints of conformity:

would have allowed for a sun-up to sun-down, rain or shine day of riding,
would have stood for over 600 miles in a day, destination still unknown,
would have lived for a week in two pairs of jeans and t-shirts,
would have slept in some creepy dive of a motel for the night,
would have dined for days on b'loney sandwiches, thermos coffee and stale brownies,
would have loved rolling out before first light or rolling in well after dark,
would have condoned rolling up on a <---> sign and choosing the direction that would be least likely to get us home at a reasonable hour,
would have dreamed about zig-zag riding all the way across our great country,
would have given in to the urge to ride a few more miles just to see what was around the next bend in the road.

Tim explains it this way -- no kids at home, no cats or dogs in the house, the gold fish died years ago. We ride out when we please and we ride in when we are out of money. It is as simple as that.

What is around the next bend of the road is year #40... and with any luck - mile marker 40,000 but more likely 50,000+++ somewhere along the way. What rolling around the bend of #40 will reveal is anyone's guess -- new roads, new adventures, new experiences, new memories... and we won't forget old roads that lead to old friends...

The principle of love will always be stronger than that of life,
because it comes upon us quicker
and in the end doesn't conquer but liberates.
-- Rod McKuen --

Love, if allowed to run its natural course is liberating. If appreciated properly, with mutual and equal consideration and concern, long-lasting love and an equally long-married life reflects itself upon the people who planned and schemed and ultimately, worked to achieve those ends. Add a Harley along the way for two freedom-loving dreamers and the rest is about joyfully free-wheeling it as far down the forever road as possible. Destination still unknown.

The personal life deeply lived
always expands into truths beyond itself.
-- Anais Nin --

Next year we will have an un-hyphenated anniversary... Forty. Years from now, I think somewhere around our 50th or 60th or 70th, I want people who know us to say - now that's a life well-lived... filled with love and laughter, lots of good stories, and countless tales of miles and smiles.

The goal this year and every year hereafter, is to do some of that deep-living, to keep things easy... fun... real... free... and to simply ride on... and on... and on... away... away... beyond... stay tuned...

It is good to have an end to journey towards;
but it is the journey that matters in the end.
~~ Ursula K. LeGuin ~~

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TIM!

What follows is our video anniversary card (To Tim, with Love) but there were so many photos to share I could not work them all in to a single video. Go figure! In the interest of keeping it shorter than Gone With the Wind... I had to get somewhat selective. The photos are mostly us or rather just we three as we rolled our way through year #39...

Celebrating #39 - 2010