Never Taken For Granted

We celebrated my parents' 40 wedding anniversary yesterday with the whole family...all 19 of us! It was a great celebration.  We surprised them with a photo book including letters from each of us 6 kids.  It was really special and they loved it.

 My parents with their 6 grandkids.

This morning, I got to meet my friend Briana for coffee and  hear about her honeymoon and see pictures.  I can't believe she has been married over a month already! She looked happy and beautiful and it was great to catch up.

After a stop to visit my grandparents (Grandpa talked a bit and ate a huge breakfast!), Tom and I headed home so that he would have time to get ready for his soccer game tonight.

A little convo began about a half hour from arriving home.

Me: "How far do you think it is from our house to the soccer field?"
Tom: "Probably about 5 miles."
Me: " I could probably bike that, right?"
Tom: "Yeah you could bike that, it would be fun."

Upon pulling up to our house we saw that the driveway was repaved today and not yesterday (as originally thought) and was therefore not yet dry.  The decision was made for me.  Tom had to be at the game an hour prior to start time, so instead of riding along with him, I decided to do the bike ride and was glad I did!

It was a gorgeous night, and was just over 6 miles there and back for a round trip of about 12.2 miles.  Am I an intense and amazing biker? No.  Do I have a cheap but oh so cute mountain bike from Target? Heck yes. Did super serious and strong bikers on gorgeous and expensive machines pass me just a few times?  Of course! Even though I am not an experienced biker, I had fun tonight.  I sucked air (and bugs) and enjoyed my music while I pedaled along.  Biking is something I enjoy that doesn't feel like exercise when I am appreciating the scenery and feeling the burn in my legs and remembering that I am doing something positive for myself.  I will never take for granted the fact that I can sit comfortably on a bike, move my legs around, or even make the decision to go out for a bike ride on a whim just because I can.  

There was a time when I couldn't kneel at church for more than a few minutes at a time because it hurt my knees.  I will always remember when I lived with friends a few years ago and would walk down the block from our house and back, feeling so proud of myself for exercising. A journey to health truly begins with one step, or one push of the pedal.  I will not take for granted the fact that tonight I went for a bike ride on my blue Target turbo speedster and felt like a rock star:)