Yesterday afternoon I arrived at my intended location on a rather significantly sloped parking lot.  The space next to the sidewalk was open so I took it.  It was easy backing the Valkyrie into the space as I had pulled past it and rolled it backwards downhill.  As I let it over onto the sidestand I noticed I was parking with a fair amount of the slope still down to the left of the bike.  This isn’t good, I thought.  My Interstate has somewhat taller shocks and the slope of the bike on the stand is deep.

I did what I intended and came back out to the bike.  I threw a leg over, turned the fork to the right and pulled.  Didn’t do it.  Pulled again with a strong jerk.  Nope, not going to happen.

I dismounted so that I could have both legs on the low side of the bike and easily stood it up.  There I was standing next to the Valkyrie, holding it upright and feeling a bit uncomfortable with the thought of throwing a leg across the saddle with two hands on the bars and the bike standing, maybe unsteadily, on that slope.  I stood there for what seemed several minutes.  I remembered I was wearing my steel toed boots.  I almost always do when I ride.  Interestingly I was wearing those boots when I came off on the highway and they say I still broke my big toe.

I slipped my left foot under the base of the sidestand being careful to ascertain it would sit on the steel toe and not on my instep.  I easily threw my right leg over the saddle and pulled the bike back upright.

This morning I had two of my grandchildren in the upstairs office with me.  The grandboy said something that didn’t make sense and I told him he was crazy.  “I’m not crazy!  You’re cray cray,” he said.

What ensued was a rather heated discussion among the three of us as to who was and who was not insane.  The grandgirl pulled out her pretend phone.  It’s an old cell phone that no longer contains a battery.

“I’m going to call Mom and ask her if Paw Paw’s crazy.  Hello, Mom?  Is Paw Paw crazy?  Yes.  No.  Kaden says he is.”

“She says Paw Paw is not crazy.”

Her grandmother had just walked into the room during the pretend telephone conversation.  “She said he’s not crazy?  That’s not your mom!”

Sometimes there are difficulties involved in the process of getting older, getting weaker, and in some ways the slipping away of one’s mind.  Isn’t it great, though, to have been given the opportunity?  There have been times when I thought for sure that I wouldn’t but I did.  It was a gift.  I didn’t earn it nor trade anything for it.  It just happened and it was given to me freely.

I’m glad to be here getting older.

I’m sorry.  What is it we were talking about?