Prologue: Clear My Head

Pushing myself harder and riding faster I love feeling the wind blow through my hair. The hum of the pavement under my two wheels has always been soothing to me. I look down at the road rushing below, but I need to stop focusing down there and face forward; I really don’t need to plow into the rear-end of a parked car.

I’m not taking the most direct route to my destination, more like aimless meandering, but that’s okay. Riding my bike feels good and it’s always helped me to clear my head. The road I’m on, Revere Street, is straight and long with a slight downhill slope that’s great for getting my speed up. I find a steady rhythm pumping my legs and taking in long deep breaths. The air rushing past is evaporating sweat and keeping me cool.

This feels healthy for my body and my soul, just what I need. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and it’s a time of great changes in my life-

The sudden blaring of a vehicle horn abruptly brings me back to reality, I was about to dart into a busy street on a red light. “What are you tryin’ to do, ya idiot? Get yourself killed?” a fat guy in a beat-up pickup truck hollers out the window at me. As he passes, I offer an embarrassed nod along with a wave of apology. Maybe I shouldn’t be thinking quite so deeply and trying to ride at the same time.

I’ve got time, plenty of time actually. Leaning into a wide arc of a right turn I steer my bike towards Andover Park in the center of town. Taking a lap around the park I spy a shaded bench under a big tree - that looks good.

Stopping to grab the water bottle off the frame of my bike I take a long pull of the icy coldness, it sure feels good going down on this hot early June morning. Having a seat on the bench in the shade I stare out across the park. I’m not staring at anything in particular because what I’m seeing is taking place in my mind; like I said, I need to clear my head.

Clear your head. We all say it but what does that really mean? Do we take useless memories and sweep them away? That would be one way of clearing. Maybe clearing our heads is taking the time to sort out our memories so they make sense? Or maybe clearing our heads is a reassessing of our past to evaluate our successes and failures with the hope of learning?

Today I need a little me-time to sort this out, but where do I start? It’s been quite a year well, one year and three weeks to be exact. Let’s go back and start there.