Notes from Steve

My bicycling tribe and I did the Pedaler’s Jamboree in Missouri this weekend.  It’s a bike ride on the Katy Trail (the gravel trail across Missouri).  It was only 34 miles, but it was completely packed with first time riders and families.  (Slow, meandering, non-helmet wearing people -- my anxiety was high.)  Oh, and the cicadas have definitely shown themselves.  It was like the plague.  That and we had to take shelter in the YMCA because of the weather warnings.  But it was fun (it really was).  

It's like the five second rule.  Something drops on the floor and you eat it anyway.  I figure I’ll remember the laughter and smiles. (… I’ll remember the cicadas as well though.  They were horrible.  Literally piles of dead huge bugs all over the place - and they flew through the air and landed on you.  We checked the maps, and I think that we aren’t going to get them up this way.  Seriously, horrible.)  

The older I get the more I appreciate the company as opposed to the activity.  Some of the best times I’ve had are being with people and laughing and connecting.  When I focus on my list of things I need to do on vacation or “adventures” I forget the relationship part.  I worry about bringing the right clothes, doing activities a through z, checking the boxes … but laughing and talking and being with friends - that’s assumed.  And (at least for me) sometimes, the box checking takes precedent over the laughing.  I’ve always said, “schedule your priorities, don’t prioritize your schedule”.  Your priorities should be fun with family and friends, not if you brought the right shoes.  

We really did have fun this last weekend.