Later I went out to a mini-bachelorette party for one my longtime friends from motorcycling. It's pretty rare that just the women of this group will get together, so it was quite the treat.
I laughed to myself when I thought about how we knew each other. Linda, on my left, is the bride, just married Robert, who I've known as long as Dave and had ridden with almost as much. Next to Linda is Joanne, who I'd ridden with many times too, or rather, saw her taillight for a curve or too and then she was gone. Next to Joanne is Tammy, who did a monthlong trip to Alaska with Linda. Then Tammy and her boyfriend Tom, a pilot from Germany, sailed around the world for 3 years. Lee, in the foreground, has done many of the same trips I have but somehow we never rode together much. She's also done lots of backbacking and foreign travel and got me all inspired to do a trip to Peru based on one she did last year.
Sara hadn't arrived yet in time for this photo, but she's the only woman in the group that I've had more typical woman bonding experiences with, when we were in prenatal yoga classes together, and we both have preschoolers now. But Sara still rides these days, unlike me, sniff. I think only two or three women in the group don't actually ride themselves, but are adventurers on the back of their guys' bikes. Rubye is one of those, she organized this event and we've been friends for years -- and her husband Reid was one of my favorite riding partners. I'm not sure where I fit into that anymore...I was certainly one of the most active in my day, but now I'm the only one besides Sara with young children. (Tammy has two grown sons.)
Anyway, though the conversation will sometimes turn to motorcycle mechanics, it's still the girls getting together with the girls, and it was a great time.
Tough afternoon with Gabriel...punched Julian in the eye, then was troublesome and astoundingly rude to the point that I ended up not letting him come swimming with us. To implement that consequence, it meant leaving him home alone or no one went, and Katrina had really earned it.
I'd rather think about my time being a normal grownup around a fantastic group of women with whom our most common element is motorcycles!
9/26/2010
1 comment:
I'm SO sorry I missed the bachelorette party! Sounds like a great time. But we're hoping to make the wedding celebration and catch up with everyone then.
You can put me in a weird category of that group: used to ride motorcycles, but now rides a teensy scooter. I still feel like a rider, but I know most motorcyclists don't view me that way. When I wave, they sometimes wave back and then seem sort of embarrassed!
Someday I'll have a "real" bike again. In the meantime, I'm embracing the silly scooter experience by making mine totally girly and cute with stickers, frilly seat cover, etc.
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