January 20, 2023 – Day 19 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA

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1-20-23, Day 19 In PTL Perrin’s Life

Courtesy of Adellee from Pixabay

Welcome to day nineteen of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!

One of the things I enjoy about this 30-Day Blogging Challenge is reading about other writers’ memories. I have a few of my own that I may share in the coming days. In fact, here’s one from a few years ago, when my mom was still on this side of Heaven, living in Naples, Florida.

It was  another perfect Florida winter day, sunny and in the mid-70s. Mom, my sister, Margie, and I sat at a table in IHop, next to eight burly bikers in their colors, taking a lunch break from their ride. There was a time when my heart would have longed to go with them, but, in the words of an old cliché, “been there, done that.” I sat with my back to the group, with one ear tuned to their conversation.

“Javier went down,” I heard one man say.

“No way,” another answered. “Javi, you gonna let him talk about you that way?”

“Tell them,” a voice I assumed belonged to Javier answered.

The first voice said, “Yeah, man. It happened last month, up in the Blue Ridge. I drove the truck on those icy roads, but Javi’s hard-core. He rode ahead, taking that mountain road real slow. Hit ice on a curve and I thought he was a goner for sure. He was that close to the edge with nothing but a low guardrail that didn’t look too solid. Man, you wouldn’t believe how he got that rear end back under him. Cool as ice.”

“We’d almost reached the valley when he hit another icy patch, this time at an intersection,” the storyteller continued. “You should have seen him working his bike to get control. He danced it out of the way of an oncoming car that couldn’t stop, and almost had it. Almost, man. Then he lost it and went down.”

A collective moan rose from the table behind me and I grinned, remembering the cold ride home I’d had one day.

Javier’s voice broke in, and I could hear the smile in it. “Yeah, man. But did you see how controlled I was? Slid to a slow stop, nothin’ broken.”

The storyteller guffawed and remarked, “Yeah, Javi. Nothin’ but your pride.”

From the warmth of the Florida restaurant, I empathized with Javier. The group laughed while I relived the day a friend and I went riding along the Delaware river on the Pennsylvania side.

I rode my quiet Honda 360 Custom, like the 1976 bike pictured below, only burgundy. A group of Harley riders from my church had kindly adopted me and my rice burner, and we would explore our hilly area whenever we had time. This day, my ex had the kids and only one of the group was free to join me. He rode his roaring Harley, both of us happy with the beautiful weather and the curves of the winding, wooded road.

Photo courtesy of WilkerNet

We stopped for lunch at a popular restaurant next to the river, oblivious to the sudden drop in temperature outside. In the space of an hour, the day turned cold and rainy, and there we were, without jackets or rain gear.

We finished lunch and headed out the door, into a freezing downpour. The waiter, an avid rider himself, brought us industrial-sized trash bags to wear against the rain. I didn’t care how crazy we looked. Those trash bags saved our lives. With hands stiffened into claws and shivering so hard I was sure we’d lose control of our bikes, we made it to my house three hours later. My friend refused to come inside and took off for his own, about a ten-minute drive farther on. The minute I made it into the house, I turned on the oven and parked myself there until I thawed.

I’m glad Javier recovered from his fall on the ice, and I’m glad my friend and I didn’t drop a bike during that freezing ride home.

Have you ever had an adventure that turned out well despite the odds? Tell me about it!

Photo courtesy of Lothar Dieterich from Pixabay

Here’s my to-do list for today:

  1. Write my daily blog. (Check!)
  2. Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
  3. Balance our checkbooks. (If not today, then tomorrow for sure.)
  4. Put Christmas bins away and start taking down the Christmas tree. (*waaaah!*)
  5. Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
  6. Get tax information together for four corporations. (Must do by this time next week!)
  7. Bill and I are going to a community party this evening to hang out with some of our great neighbors.

Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at  https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/

Blessings!

Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)

https://www.ptlperrin.org

15 thoughts on “January 20, 2023 – Day 19 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA”

    • Climbing down a cliff is nothing to sneeze at, Susanne! It’s something I wouldn’t do. We ate in a restaurant on a causeway crossing the river. The only eatery for miles. There were no hotels nearby, or along the country road we’d traveled. None that we could see, anyway. I didn’t sign up for that adventure, but I think God, who writes our story, sometimes asks that question, “What could possibly go wrong?” What’s a good story without conflict?

      Blessings!
      Patty

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  2. Wow, Patty, a biker chick!! I’m glad you got those trash bags or you could have had a different outcome. You are a woman of many surprises and your command of your writing craft was evident in this blog. Loved hearing about this!

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    • Thanks, Maura Beth! I’ve had my phases, and that was a fun one! I loved riding in Bucks County. My job was in Princeton, NJ, and for a year or so, I rode my bike to work, rain, shine, and even snow, while a perfectly fine car sat in my garage. With the right gear, weather wasn’t a problem. To be honest, I bought the bike because my ex hated motorcycles. And then I fell in love with riding. “Those were the days,” says the crotchety old lady with a gleam in her eye. 😉

      Blessings!
      Patty

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  3. Your writing has a you-are-there quality, Patty. You are super-skilled at dialogue. And the story tells me you are a woman of true grit.

    By the way, although we enjoy having our tree up as long as possible, by now it would have burned to cinders. It dried out FAST, in spite of watering. 😀

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    • Thanks, Marian! Your kind compliment made my day. As for true grit, some would call it the complete absence of a sense of mortality, or common sense. The problem we have with the tree is that it’s fake, so it won’t self-destruct. It also doesn’t have the heavenly smell of a fresh tree. (*sigh*)

      Blessings!
      Patty

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    • They can be dangerous, Joy. We used to jokingly call them donor-mobiles, but the reality is no joke. I pray for every biker I see on the highway. Thank you for your service as a nurse!

      Blessings!
      Patty

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  6. Yesterday, I got the Christmas decorations off the big tree but it’s still up so I turned the lights on last night, anyway. The little tree is filled with bird ornaments, so I’ve decided that it is no longer a Christmas tree. It has become a springtime tree, so there’s no rush to put it away.

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