Bikes, Birthdays and Bucket Lists

It’s been a rough couple of years for our extended family:  pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer.  Kidney cancer, colon cancer and another lung cancer, all resulting in the deaths of people we love.  Another breast cancer.  Ovarian cancer.

It’s also been a period of happiness and joy.  We bought a condo in Denver so that we could spend more time with my family.  Rachel got married to a man we all love; welcome to the family Scott!  Cokie’s canine pack continues to grow, and she’s going back to school next month.  (If you can’t find a homeopath you really like, send one of your children to school!)  Ari is living and writing in New Orleans – we don’t see her nearly as often as we would like.  Theo moved to Iowa City, where he works at a job he loves (how many of us get to say that?). 

More on joy later.  Today’s post is about how we came to this ride across America.  I (Janie) will be writing most of these posts.  I’m hoping to quote Jody accurately when the occasion calls for it!  And if I can figure out the computer, camera, Facebook and blog, you’ll be seeing pictures.  A special thanks here to Cokie for all her patient teaching; to Rachel for being such a good resource; to Theo for stubbornly insisting that yes, I can learn this stuff; and to Ari for Facebooking outside the box.  I might have eventually figured it out without you guys, but I would have been in my 90’s by then!

So, what do people do when they go to too many funerals in too short a time, and when they visit the sick more often than they would like?  We remember, we reminisce, we try to be better people, we go home and hug our spouses, we text our children and tell them we love them.  We try to be grateful for what we have.  We reflect on our own mortality.  I asked Jody what was on his bucket list.  “I want to ride my bicycle across America.”  “Seriously?”  “Yup.  Seriously.”

 

Much of what’s on my bucket list, I’ve already accomplished – I’ve traveled extensively (although not yet to Machu Picchu), I’ve written two novels (neither published; I think I’m going to have to write another before that happens), I’ve done two duathlons, I learned to swim in my 40’s (not well enough for a triathlon, but I’m thinking about that again), I earned an MFA in creative writing (fiction), I learned to cook.  I took the bar exam a second time.  No.  Wait.  That was on my ‘anti-bucket’ list!  There is something else bubbling to the top, but I’m not ready to write about that just yet.  And right now, it’s Jody’s turn.

In the summer of 2001, Jody had ACL surgery on his right knee.  So what did I give him for his 50^th birthday that year?  A brand new road bike.  I whiffed on his 60^th birthday last year.  I don’t remember what I gave him.  He probably doesn’t remember either.  But on his 61^st birthday this year, I did much better.  He’s riding across America.  I’ll be riding with him some every day (out a few miles, then back to the car), but for Jody, I’m driving the sag wagon.  Best gift ever?  I hope not.  Best gift so far?  Yes, I do think so.

Up to the age of forty eating is beneficial. After forty, drinking. 

~ From the Talmud