The View From a Different Window: I'm thinking it was about time

Hello dear ones, friends and family from all over this great world of ours. Night time is approaching here along the Western Slopes and this first day of "Daylight Savings Time" is quickly coming to an end. It's 6:18 pm here and the sky remains brilliantly lit up. Our temperatures today were quite warm and what a welcome relief after enduring the cold days of winter. At present it is still 59 degrees out and a quick check of the weather app on my phone tells me that back home in Hutchinson, Kansas they are 4 degrees even warmer. Those Reno County folks have suffered through much in the past weeks of winter and I'm surely happy for them that they can enjoy a bit of a break from the last days of winter's throes. "Hurry along Spring!" is all I can think of at this point in time.

Because the weather was so wonderful today, I decided to do something that I had done very little of since moving here to Montrose, now nearly 10 months ago. I got on my bike and rode for the first time since last July for a short 2.5 mile journey around our neighborhood. It was not a pretty sight, me on that bike, but I made it and boy could I ever tell that I'd been off of it for far too long.

I love that bike and even though it cost me nearly $800 to buy it over at the Bicycle Pedaler in Wichita, it was worth every penny that I spent to get it. It took me on the Bike Across Kansas of 2011 and all told in the 3 years that I've had it, I've been able to put over 2,500 miles on it. It was the bike I was riding when I had my accident and life changed forever after that. Most every day, except for the dead of winter, you could find me riding along the Martinez Bike Path in Hutchinson on the 10-mile round trip journey it took for me to get there and back from my home on 14th Street. I loved riding. I lived for riding and nothing could stop me. It was the best medicine ever for times when life seemed a bit on the "rough side" and it lifted my spirits when nothing else seemed to. Then came last summer.

You know, I had the best of intentions to continue to ride out here in Colorado. Really I did. In fact I even got on it and rode around the section two or three times during my first month of living here. But soon I found myself overcome with homesickness and loneliness and the memories of all the fun I used to have back in my old home caught up with me. Negative thoughts began to fill up my thinking, leaving me in despair.

"I don't think I'm going to like bike riding here. What if I have problems? Who will I call? Oh man, if I have a flat tire there isn't anyone who will help me. Mike is gone to Grand Junction (or Gunnison or Delta). He'd never get here in time to give me a hand. I don't know anyone here. I wish there was someone to ride with. I'm probably going to get lost because I don't even know my way around here. Geesch, could there be any more steep hills to climb? Oh great, they've got dogs that like to chase cyclists. Now that's going to make this a whole lot of fun, not. I can't breathe very well. The air is too thin here. I think it's just easier to hang this stupid bike up on the mud porch and quit. Maybe I should sell it. What good is an expensive bike like this if I'm not even going to ride it?"

I had every excuse in the book for not riding or exercising or eating right or taking care of myself that a person could think of. Ever heard of the "newlywed 28"? I hadn't either until it happened to me. In just 10 months time, my inactivity and poor eating habits had encouraged the gain of 28 pounds and my friends, that's not a good thing for me. My loneliness and homesickness for Kansas and the life that I used to know had wreaked havoc not only on my physical health but on my emotional well being too. About a month ago I realized that it was time to make a change, especially in my eating habits. Using a food plan that I was familiar with from a couple years back, I have succeeded in taking off the first 10 of the 28 pounds. Still more to go but I already feel healthier. I was letting the stress get to me and I don't know if you are like me or not, but sometimes comfort food really tastes good :) There's no more of that for me now because I'm choosing a better solution for those times in life when things seem to "get us". I've started walking more with Mike and Sally as they head down the road in the evenings and today, well shoot today seemed like a perfect time to get that bike out and on the road again. It felt good to be doing something that I have enjoyed for so very long now.

"Ok God, it's just you and me. I haven't done THIS in quite a while and I hope I still remember how. I'm going to make 2 miles today. That's not much but it IS 100 percent more than I did yesterday, you know? Dang this hill is way too steep and I'm afraid of not making it. Doesn't matter...I'm getting off and pushing this bike to the top. It's better than quitting. Oh wow! I love going DOWN hills way better than climbing them. That's a cool house over there. Never seen that one before now. I think if I turn this way it'll take me right to Locust Road. Stupid dog! Don't you even think of chasing me! Oh, I see you are going to anyways. Well, ok for you because I do know how to yell at you...Smart dog there. You cannot outrun me. Oh man...one last hill. I'm going to walk that one too. I'm huffing and puffing big time. Guess that means two things. I need a drink of water and I need to do this again tomorrow. There's home! I think I can make it now. Just a couple hundred yards left to ride. "Hey, how far do you think I rode this afternoon Mike?" Only two miles?? "Do you think it's ok if I call it 2.5?"

One thing that I've always known about myself is the fact that I can take care of others way better than I ever look out for myself. How about you? I'm guessing the same can be said of so many of us. We are surely in good company. Summer time is fast approaching, believe it or not, and this summer I intend to enjoy myself here along the Western Slopes. There is hiking aplenty around these parts and plenty of good trails for riding bikes. We are going to have a bigger garden, more flowers and even some chickens if we can batten down the hatches of the old chicken house. Little by little I am getting used to life here and actually feeling the peace that I was searching for all summer long last year. I figure that it's all in the way that I look at it and when they say, "You can choose to be happy" well then they really do mean that. Our attitudes, bad OR good, can make or break us. I'm choosing to make it and I hope the same can be said for you.

Good night friends and family wherever you are this night. Kansas, I shall see you in 11 days more. I look forward to my journey back to the Midwest where so many friends and family remain. But when my visit is done, I look forward to crossing over the big mountain again and returning to the new friends and family that live here along the Western Slopes. Man, I don't think I ever admitted that in a blog before! I think that must mean I'm growing and changing a little bit. :)