Sweet Ride

Here is a photo of my sweet new ride:



OK, she's not new. She's actually about 11 years old, but I haven't ridden my bike in 8 years! I have been wanting to ride again for a long time, but for the past four years I have been a little busy being pregnant or raising my children. But it was time to forget the excuses, cough up the dough to have the bike tuned, get on it and ride. Which is what I did last night. I rode over 12 miles in a little over an hour for my first time back, which I am considering to be pretty impressive!

A testament to how desperately I need to get out of the house and away from the kids for just a little while to take care of myself is in the story Damien told me when I got home from my ride. Apparently Olivia was acting a little strange when I left. She was standing by the door, just staring. Not smiling, not crying. Expressionless. When Damien would walk by she would say, "Mommy, take coat off," or "Want Mommy." Damien finally convinced her to go to the play room and play while he made dinner. When he went to find the kids (Cameron had the neighborhood "older" girls over to play) he could not find Olivia. He said he searched everywhere, including outside, closets, the bathroom. Finally, he walked toward our door to upstairs and there she was lying on her belly in the corner with her face in her hands. He panicked because he thought something terrible happened. When he got to her and picked her up, she said, "Where's Mommy?" Poor thing! I'm just always around, and she had no idea what was going on!

I should be ready for my Breathe NH ride in the middle of May. I'm going to try for 53 miles the first day and 35 miles on day 2. Thank you to everyone who has already donated to the cause! I'm more than halfway there.