As many of you know I'm an avid cyclist. I've ridden about 45000 km since I started keeping track of the mileage.
The crazy cyclist in 2008!
When I first started riding, I put the pedal to the metal and rode as fast and far as I could. I did not stop on any of my rides. I didn't need to stop for a breather. I do remember one time when I had to stop. I ran over somebody's dog in an off leash park that the bike trail passed through.. I thought I'm in big trouble...angry dog owner and more. The dog owners just laughed and apologized and said they had a very energetic untrained dog and that he got what he deserved.
I have always said hi to people on the trail.
The last few years I have slowed down and stopped at a bench for a breather. What I found is that some of the local residents stopped at the same bench so I got to know some people: a retired air force guy, retired RCMP, a lady who's had a major stroke and a lady with three dogs and a stroller for them.
This summer I met a woman who is going into a masters program. She worked for thirty years, retired and went back to school. She's an interesting character.
Then there's my friend John. I taught with John and I knew he was an avid cyclist but when he retired he really surprised me. John has ridden to the tip of South America, through Greece and Italy, Israel, and India. He's done all these trips solo!
We have a young librarian who is super friendly and helps seniors with computers. She's taught me a lot. Yesterday she told me,"You know that I've known you all my life." She said , " My folks live in your subdivision and all the time I was growing up we saw this cyclist with the yellow helmet go by our house. We commented that the guy with the yellow helmet must be very dedicated. " She said , "The other day I discovered the dedicated cyclist with the yellow helmet was you!" As you can imagine we had a good laugh.
So the social contact from cycling has been great and sometimes surprising.
A few days ago I had the pleasure of meeting a girl I hadn't seen for at least twenty years.
Jan lived four houses around the corner from me. Her parents still live there.
Jan was a nice kid. She was quiet, polite friendly and many other positive qualities. I live on a corner and sometimes Jan walked by. She always stopped for a visit if I was in the yard. It was always a conversation that moved from topic to topic. I threw a few things out to keep things going or challenge to promote a reply. I usually found out what was going on in her family , the neighborhood or school.
Sometimes Jan was happy and sometimes she was sad and down in the dumps. I'll never forget one time when she came by and she was not very happy. In fact, I thought she was going to cry. It soon came out what was wrong. She was upset with her mother. Nothing out of the ordinary. Lots of kids get upset with their mothers. But it further came out that she had used the f...word and she'd caught it from her Mom. Later she admitted that she deserved what she got. I'd like to think she went away a little better than when she came. She'd had a chance to make a confession and admit that she'd got herself into trouble. I thought that it was a good thing for Jan to be able take ownership instead of blaming somebody else for her problems. In cases like this I did not stand in judgement. She knew she could safely confess.
Jan's Dad had a monster garage sale a few weeks ago. I dropped in for a quick visit with Don. We joked back and forth about the stuff he had for sale. He thought I should buy the tap shoes! After a minute ,out of the corner of my eye I noticed somebody sitting on a stool quietly having lunch. It was a welcome site. It was Jan. Then we had a half hour visit. There was a lot she wanted to know. She's still the same person but with a set of twins and a single and one streak of gray hair! She made a remark about my retirement so I took the opportunity to get in a good dig that she was closer to retirement than she thought. She's 42 and has had a long nursing career.
Now something that she didn't know was that when I was delivering papers one day, I went to her Dad's house and I heard a little voice say,"Grandpa, the paper boy is here!" I told Jan that those were words I wouldn't forget.
It's always a pleasure for me to meet former students or former anybody.
