Back in the Saddle

I have this old crinkled folded in half piece of paper taped to my bedroom wall. Some days I look at it as I wake up, but because I either have morning crusties in my eye or because I have become accustomed to seeing it there, I fail to read the words on the paper. Lately however, I’ve been getting up and actually taking the 20 seconds it takes to read it. Recently, I took the words to heart, and decided to start the adventure of a lifetime. The paper reads:

“This is the beginning of a new day, God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it- or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it! When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, and not loss; good, and not evil; success, and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.” –Dr. Heartbill Wilson

I have never blogged a day in my life, so this should be interesting. I want to start by telling you how I decided to join Jacques on I RIDE YOU GIVE THEY LIVE, a cross-country bicycle trip to raise money for Beautiful Gate (check out the Causes link above for more info).

The simple reason may be that I am crazy. We can agree that is true and therefore move to the details of my lunacy. After taking the bar exam in July, I have been spending my days applying for jobs, meeting lawyers and developers, and thinking an inordinate amount about the next stage in my life. In other words, I have some time on my hands. I have always wanted to do a cross country bike ride, and I have even gone as far to look into the costs and time it takes to accomplish the feat. But, there was something missing when I thought about doing a solo trip. My solo trip would have been, well, solo. It would have been a somewhat selfish 6 weeks lacking any real purpose. No bueno.

Then I get a message from Jacques' wife, Brittany. In every story, there’s going to be this type of message-a message where one crazy person meets another crazy person. Anyways, Brittany was writing to let everyone know Jacques was going to do I RIDE YOU GIVE THEY LIVE and needed places in the southern states to sleep/recuperate. Our worlds had officially collided. Having volunteered at Beautiful Gate’s South African children’s home in 2007, I already knew the amazing little children that Jacques was fundraising for.

Although I had met Brittany at Beautiful Gate in South Africa, I had never met Jacques. Now, I had to work the courage up to ask Jacques if he would consider letting a stranger join him on the trip. My message went something like this, “Jacques, You don’ know me. I am a complete stranger. I’m a little crazy. I like African kids, bikes, and adventure. I have big muscles. Can I join you on the ride?” Despite him calling my bluff on the big muscles part, Jacques happily agreed. As the Staples commercial says, “That was easy.”

Now comes the preparation time- a short preparation time no doubt. 15 day until departure.