A New Tradition

New traditions have to start somewhere I guess. Whether out of something glorious or something terrible.

Yesterday, mom would have been 70 years old. Last weekend we should have all been gathering to celebrate such a milestone with a surprise party of some sort. A room filled with laughter, hugs and kisses, cake and sugary pop (or in my case a cold glass of milk) and catching up with relatives and friends. So yesterday was tough, none of that happened. A "regular" day of work full of complaints, stress, drama and overall draining tiredness. I felt I didn't have time to even set aside to think about mom and I was a bit disappointed about that. I felt bad that life was just "continuing on".

However, a few weeks ago I decided that I'm going to start a new tradition - something to look forward to every spring. Something as constant as celebrating a birthday, but not a birthday. Just a dude and his bike, celebrating his love of cycling because of a mom who encouraged him to ride bikes and seek adventure and nature in the first place.

So going forward, every April 5, you will find this man riding his bike in honor of his mother's birthday. As long as I can lift a leg over the top tube, I'm riding. No matter the weather. And yesterday was the first challenge. It had rained all day, a downpour. Flood warnings were out. About two hours before I was to start riding home, the storm split in half. There was this sweet gap of no rain or clouds cutting right up through Grand Rapids. I was going to ride no matter what anyways, but it sure made it nice to not get wet until the last three out of twenty-four mile commute. I couldn't help but to talk to mom while riding, as this was the first time she got to see my route and what I experience on my rides home from work. I felt like a tour-guide for passengers on vacation.

So, the ride was good. My legs felt energetic, my back was great. I was just warm enough. It wasn't a fast ride, and the trail was bare except for a few dog-walkers - so a good ride to just think.

There are plenty of things I can do throughout the rest of the years to "honor" mom - whether it's picking up trash on the roadside, helping someone in need or lending an ear to someone that needs to get something off their chest...but this one day a year is now forever, just for me.