I've come to decide that the cure for a lonely or sad heart is a 10-speed. . . (or a kayak but the blog is about my new old 10-speed).
My friend, Aubrey, recently purchased a new old 10-speed a couple weeks ago and told me how nice it was to ride around on it. I have another friend, Stephen, who bikes to work on his jazzy nice road bike. So last week I went on the search for my very own new old bike. I searched on Craig's list which is GREAT as long as you're safe about buying and selling. I came across this little gem and decided to buy it for a whopping 75$ (which compared to Aubrey's was expensive. She found a cool old huffy female road bike. 25$ ) And I'll put a bit more into it to fix a few things. For now I just need a new handle tap and a wire that connects the front gears to it's shifter on the handle bar. It will set me back around 25 bucks. So 100$ all together. I'm happy with it and love that it's old and has character. I ride around with an OLD teal helmet that I had since I was 11 years old. I took it for a short ride and it went well. I'm only sad that I bought it so late in the season.
So for all of you out there with a sad or lonely heart, here is my advice to you. Go out and buy yourself a bike. You will be exercising which is good for so many different reasons; it can release anxiety by using and stretching out your muscles, it can help you lose weight which makes you feel better about yourself, helps you produce beta-endorphins which is the feel good sensation that athletes get when they hit that peak, and for many other reasons that I haven't named.
On another random tangent, my nieces, Dahlia and Mahala are visiting for the week. I woke up this morning to Mahala crying to get out of her crib. It was a nice wake up and to see her with her arms out stretched. So cute.
Later in the day when nap time was approaching (about an hour and half away) I was sitting watching the girls play while my mom took a shower. Dahlia was playing with legos and I started to paint my toe nails. We were in the living room and Dahlia said, "I want my nails painted too." I said, "okay, well I'll go get some nail polish remover and we'll go into the kitchen and paint your nails." She said, "No, you can paint them right here." and I said, "well, we should probably do it in the kitchen. When you're older we can do it in here." She started to get teary eyed and tantrumy. while this went on Mahala just watches on as she does. I then said to Dahlia logically (she's sooooo logical even when she's tired. . I'm sure not always.), "Daaaaahlia, that's not how we act if we want something. I can't paint your nails if you aren't happy. I'm going to get the remover and you can chose to be happy or sad when I get back." She looked at me (oh, by this time she'd fallen back on the ground in a tantrum) and started to stop crying. I asked, "Do you want to be happy or sad?" Mahala chimed in "Happy!" I got up and said again, "you can chose to be happy or sad." and when I came back the tears were dried. We proceeded to go into the kitchen and paint her nails.
I have such amazing nieces but she taught me another lesson. I have a choice and I know I'm choosing to be happy. I know that it's taking me a little longer and that's okay but in the end I really am choosing to be happy. I really want my nails painted when it comes down to it. :)
