[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Hey, y'all.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]My beginner's bike tour starts Saturday in Idaho. I booked it last Fall, planning to train all winter and be all prepared and excited and ready to go. It rained so much this past 5 months that I'm feeling undertrained, but I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Then I learned we're moving out of state next month, 4 days after the bike tour, but had already gotten my sister invited and involved, so I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY . [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Then I learned my daughter was moving a month before we are, and needed help packing and moving (she's single)... I got her moved a couple weeks ago, and I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I have spent the last 2 weeks packing our own house and home, since I only have 4 days until we move once I get back from the bike tour. I have most of the house packed up, and am so exhausted I'm numb. I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I spent the last 3 days volunteering at the Jazz Festival for my best friend. (I do this for her every year, and would have begged off this year because of everything else going on, but due to extenuating circumstances she was under-staffed and needed me more than ever this year, so to work I went.) Got home exhausted last night, but I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I got home from it last night and thought, "Now, I can finally concentrate on at least packing for the bike tour and getting excited." And then I learned it's supposed to rain the whole time we're there -- one of the things I was most afraid of, since I loathe biking in the rain and can't see with wet glasses, and will probably end up in the Sag wagon. I swallowed hard, but I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]But then I got a phone call. I have wonderful friends whom I've known since the mid-80s. The husband recently learned he is going blind from macular degeneration and has to retire. He is a fiercely independent man who loved his calling and wanted to die in the traces, rather than to ever retire, so this was devastating to him and those who love him. But this past weekend, his beloved wife, who had planned to retire with him and care for him in his blindness, dropped dead of an undetected aneurysm. His heart -- and mine -- is broken. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I DON'T WANT TO GO ANYWAY. It feels like the straw that broke the cyclist's back. I can't even go to the funeral, because I'll be on the bike tour. I did consider not going at this point, though that would cost us over $2000 in non-refundable fees and airfare. But my sister and I are flying in a day early because she has arranged for a family reunion of sorts our first night there with relatives we haven't seen since childhood, who are all flying in and excited to see us. I don't want to disappoint them or make them lose the cost of their airfare. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]So I'm going anyway. But I don't think it's going to be the bike tour I had hoped for. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Thanks for listening. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]My beginner's bike tour starts Saturday in Idaho. I booked it last Fall, planning to train all winter and be all prepared and excited and ready to go. It rained so much this past 5 months that I'm feeling undertrained, but I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Then I learned we're moving out of state next month, 4 days after the bike tour, but had already gotten my sister invited and involved, so I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY . [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Then I learned my daughter was moving a month before we are, and needed help packing and moving (she's single)... I got her moved a couple weeks ago, and I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I have spent the last 2 weeks packing our own house and home, since I only have 4 days until we move once I get back from the bike tour. I have most of the house packed up, and am so exhausted I'm numb. I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I spent the last 3 days volunteering at the Jazz Festival for my best friend. (I do this for her every year, and would have begged off this year because of everything else going on, but due to extenuating circumstances she was under-staffed and needed me more than ever this year, so to work I went.) Got home exhausted last night, but I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I got home from it last night and thought, "Now, I can finally concentrate on at least packing for the bike tour and getting excited." And then I learned it's supposed to rain the whole time we're there -- one of the things I was most afraid of, since I loathe biking in the rain and can't see with wet glasses, and will probably end up in the Sag wagon. I swallowed hard, but I PLANNED TO GO ANYWAY.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]But then I got a phone call. I have wonderful friends whom I've known since the mid-80s. The husband recently learned he is going blind from macular degeneration and has to retire. He is a fiercely independent man who loved his calling and wanted to die in the traces, rather than to ever retire, so this was devastating to him and those who love him. But this past weekend, his beloved wife, who had planned to retire with him and care for him in his blindness, dropped dead of an undetected aneurysm. His heart -- and mine -- is broken. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]I DON'T WANT TO GO ANYWAY. It feels like the straw that broke the cyclist's back. I can't even go to the funeral, because I'll be on the bike tour. I did consider not going at this point, though that would cost us over $2000 in non-refundable fees and airfare. But my sister and I are flying in a day early because she has arranged for a family reunion of sorts our first night there with relatives we haven't seen since childhood, who are all flying in and excited to see us. I don't want to disappoint them or make them lose the cost of their airfare. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]So I'm going anyway. But I don't think it's going to be the bike tour I had hoped for. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff]Thanks for listening. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR][/SIZE]