..and then we released it into the wild...

I have just made a bike date for Saturday morning with a long time friend of mine.

I haven't been on a bike ride outdoors since.. since I got a driver's license in Nov 1986. 

Those were the days man.  Even though I was a heavy kid, in 9th grade I biked everywhere.  I had a boyfriend who lived ...

I typed that sentence and then I went to Google - that was over two hours ago.  I went to find his old house on Google Maps to map how far it was from my house to his house.  I saw that they had street view - wow!  So I clicked on it and this is what I saw:

In general, I have a horrible memory.  I am often in the situation where someone says, "Remember that time that we..." followed with some crazy story that involves something minor-ly illegal (urinating in public seems to be a reoccurring theme..) that I don't remember even being there. =)

However, in the instant that the above image loaded I was transported back to a moment in my life that I remember almost every single detail of everything around me and how it happened as though I have watched it in a movie a million times over.  Honestly, in my head, my memory of this story has always played like a climatic John Hughes movie scene.

In 1985 when I was in 9th grade, the dark brown house on the left of this picture (follow the driveway up to see it) was my boyfriends house.  We dated for a little less than a year (I think?) - =)

One night, he had a birthday party at his house.  At this party, the girls in the honors group I ran around with decided it would be a good time to tell me that when my boyfriend was in Washington DC over the summer with their honors group, he met a girl named Margaret Anderson and he had kissed her.  They had basically dated for the week that they were there together.  I think she was from Iowa.

The girls had pulled me aside into a spare bedroom to tell me this.  I went flying to his room and point blank asked him if it was true.. he solemnly confirmed it and I ran from the room and the house starting to cry.

It was POURING rain outside.  I didn't have a way to get home or anywhere to go.  So I went under that tree in the picture, in the middle of the cul-de-sac  for shelter and to cry.

Just like the academy award hopeful actress I thought I was, and even though no one could be possibly watching me, my face went dramatically into the palms of both of my hands and I SLOWLY slid down the trunk of the tree to the ground as I was bawling to the point of hyper ventilating, I was just devastated by what had just happened, then I realized the ground was really wet and so I should probably just stand..

I remember thinking even in that moment that it wasn't so much that he had done it, but I was so embarrassed that everyone had known this had happened, all of my closest girl friends, his friends - they were all on the trip together, they all knew - and yet they chose that moment, his birthday party, to tell me.  At least that is what my voice over would have said if it were a John Hughes movie. =)

After just a few minutes, he came out.  I can see from his form that his hands are in the pockets of his beige dockers (yup.. I was into the geeks even way back then..) and his shoulders slumped over from the cold rain.  He was back lit by the garage light and so he was this dark silhouette with an orange-y glow calmly walking towards me.  He came to the outer edge of the tree top rain shelter and stopped.  We just started at each other and it was as the sound of the rain pounding the earth just went away.. it was just me and him on the planet.  He finally spoke..

"Can I come in?"

My heart melted.

He tried to assure me that it didn't mean anything and there wasn't anything more to it.  He wanted to tell me but just didn't know how... I don't remember what happened after that... other than the kissing.

Oh sorry..  LOL just day dreaming.. he was a good kisser.  Not as good as the hubby, but I did teach him well. =)

Hehehe anyway, so after my Google search I see that it was 5.8 miles from my house to his house.  So that is the new milestone to shoot for - a 11.6 mile bike ride. =)

I have owned a beautiful bike for 5 years now where it lived in my shed literally the day after purchase until I joined here on 4/2, and now is used frequently.. in my basement on the bike trainer. =)

This Saturday, my bike will be set free to explore the outdoors for the first time in it's life. It is very excited. =)