It’s been a bitterly cold January/February, with SO MUCH snow that froze into ice and NEVER melted. It snowed again, after it had finally melted. But! This time! It is soft! It is not ice! You can get around — and it is so much fun! Oliver refused, but Allyson, Eleanor, Jason and I went outside, some of us dressed for the weather and some of us (Jason and Eleanor) in t-shirts and no gloves. But! It was so fun! Allyson threw a snowball at me, first one, that she and I both gave her a ZERO percent chance of hitting me. And she did, hit me, DIRECTLY on my neck. Seriously, centered on my neck. She and I laughed so hard at her unexpected success that we forced Jason and Eleanor out, to throw and catch and hit snowballs, and Keegan from across the street joined in, too. It was so … fun! And I don’t usually think of snow as fun. But Eleanor is still outside building a huge snowman, and Allyson is rolling down our steep hill … seriously, I can hear them giggling. Every now and then, even the WORST things, aren’t as bad as you think .. and can actually be good. 🙂
Month: February 2025
Headline photo (above)
I was 19; had just earned my motorcycle license in Texas. My teenagers love this story, and emphasize that it could NEVER happen today. I had a boyfriend who drove a motorcycle, and I thought that was cool. I signed up to take a 2 day course so I could drive one too. This is how bad I was .. on the second day, when I walked in, one instructor said to the other, fine, she’s back, I owe you $10.
FURTHERMORE, when I had to ‘pass the test’ I was supposed to stop directly over a line — not past it, not before it, but over it. I had three chances, and this was the ‘final’ part of my test. I went past it, once, and stopped before it, once, so the pressure was on. I watched the ground and NOTHING else in this parking lot, I saw the line, and I squeezed the brakes so hard, so very hard, that I … laid the bike down (which is cool motorcycle talk for the bike and I fell over and slid sideways). I was … not supposed to do that. The entire class was horrified, and checked if I was okay (I was) before laughing uncontrollably. I begged for just ONE MORE chance.
As I recall it, one instructor looked to the other. And he said … “listen, as long as you SWEAR you will NEVER drive a motorcycle once, for any reason at all, I will give you your license.” And he did, and I did not! I broke up with that boyfriend (or he broke up with me!) soon thereafter, and I don’t think I’ve ever even ridden a motorcycle again, much less driven one. But oh I was proud of that license!
I was staying with my grandmother, because the class was in San Antonio which she lived 20 miles from, and I went home pleased as punch and told her my story. She was an insurance agent, and she loved me, two reasons she strongly agreed with the instructor that I should NEVER drive a motorcycle, but … we did laugh and laugh and laugh.
So I was visiting my friend in Pennsylvania a few months later, and we wandered by a Harley store, and I just sat on one to SHOW I could because I had a LICENSE. But when they asked if I wanted to go out on a test drive, I demurred. But I have the photo my friend took as proof that it happened — there I am, sitting on a Harley, safe inside a store … 🙂
Just One Yesterday 