License To Ride

When I was younger, and who am I kidding....much younger days...I remember thinking that one day I wanted to ride a motorcycle.  Somehow, my little bicycle and its fru-fru butterfly seat was subpar.  I even added playing cards to the spokes with clothes pins in hopes of creating that groovy vroom-vroom sound.  Somehow, even as a young girl growing up in the south, with a caring and cautious momma who told me to stay away from motorcycles, I still wanted to ride one.  I wanted to throw off those Sunday duds of pink dress and white knee socks, and grab a pair of faded and torn bell bottoms with a cool navy knit shirt and ride a bike.  I always dreamed of being a strong and independent woman.  I just had one thing stopping me.  My social anxiety.  I was extremely shy, and socially naive, and robot-like....silent.  I just didn't date...and when I did, the very few infrequent in high school, I found myself running like a banshee from the car or truck as soon as it rolled up the driveway after returning from the date.  I loved the great escape.  The "thank you"...and now I must run...mode.

If life skills equates to having license to ride a motorcycle...then I was definitely not legal at that time in my life.  Life is the great master teacher, about many things.  One thing is that time and all the adversity, and resolutions, and healing in between...builds layers of wisdom, and hence, your strength skills set.  I find myself dabbling with the thought of that motorcycle.  For me, now I know that I can ride that thing, no fear, no worries.  I can imagine the wind in my face and my very short hair...and not care who's looking, or if my legs look wonky.  It is afterall, about the ride.  The freedom one feels when riding freely against the elements of wind or drizzle, or warm kissed sun.  It must be like a great session of therapy, and I can relate to what actor, Dan Aykroyd, once said...."You do not need a therapist if you own a motorcycle, any kind of motorcycle!"