Backseat - From Where I Sit

January 2006

By: Michelle

Here’s To 65 More!

As I sit here on New Year’s Eve thinking about the past year and contemplating this month’s “Back Seat” (no, I still haven’t overcome that whole procrastination thing – New Year’s Resolution Number 1 – again!), I realize there are times when not knowing where you are going can lead to big surprises – sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But for every thing that has happened I have learned something, even if it is not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is a landmark article of sorts as it is the 65th time I have put pen to paper (more precisely – fingers to keyboard) and attempted to share some the trials and tribulations of our life. Looking back I realize that I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to have at least 65 memories to make me smile when the time comes to garage the motorcycle for the last time (hopefully, some time far, far in the future). Through the years I have adapted and found my inner biker. I have also found that some things never change: I will always hate bugs, love comfort and forever be caught up in the battle of the sexes.

Over the past 51/2 half years of writing articles, 2 things have happened:

1) I have become almost 1 year older (based on proven women’s mathematical formula computed similarly to the way we compute our weight on our driver’s license)
2) I am no longer a newbie rider discovering the joys of riding for the first time but rather I am an avid fan of riding constantly rediscovering the joys of a winding road through the countryside.

I have also grown in many ways, such as learning not to be so impulsive. No matter how appealing it is to make jokes, sometimes you just have to restrain yourself. For example, this month’s travel article is about “Stonewall” Jackson’s arm gravesite. There are a whole slew of jokes just ripe for the picking on this topic. However, in the interest of sensitivity, I can’t entitle the article “Jackson’s Semi-tery” or “Burying Jackson’s Left Arm Just Ain’t Right”, not to mention the whole “Give Me Back My Golden Arm” story. Nope, it just wouldn’t be right. No matter how tempting it might be to do so, I am not allowed to print it anywhere, ever. So I have trained myself to suppress the urge. On second thought, maybe I ought to make the “not to be so impulsive” my New Year’s Resolution Number 2.

As 2006 is now upon us, I am truly looking forward to continuing along the wonderful path of life that lay before Kent and me no matter where it may lead. There are always new opportunities to explore and new destinations just waiting to be discovered. One of my more conservative friends, whom I can always count on to frown with disapproval at any of my plans, recently commented “I hope you know what you are doing” to which I responded, “I am certain I don’t and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Wishing you a fabulous 2006!

Thanks for visiting VirginiaWind.

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