Bike Riding into Glory

   Have you gone on a bike ride lately? I have not until today. When we lived on 'the farm' which was not that long ago but seems like a life time...I went for a lot of bike rides. The open road called to me :) I felt a certain wildness and freedom in biking. I usually rebelled and did not wear a helmet and let the wind pour through my hair and I rode down the middle of the road whenever I wanted to. It harkened me back to my childhood when I lived on Vancouver island and spent many an hour on my bike. I also started going for bike rides with a friend and I loved that. It just felt like I was doing something really REALLY good for myself.
   I feel like biking is a sort of regal experience. There is a Dutch woman who bikes around the town I live in and she always wears a skirt. I feel like if she could bike side saddle she would but she cant. So she wears her skirt and bikes with speed and finess. She is amazing and she does NOT wear a helmet. She looks regal.
Today I went for a bike ride. I wore my husbands black skate boarding helmet and my bike has a baby seat on the back. I looked a sight but I FELT like a princess.
   I was so thankful to be able to bike to the 'country' where the fields are a fresh green. Farmers were hard at work baling and horses' tails were swishing flies. Cows were happily munching and birds were singing. I rode past a lady on her knees among her rose bushes and brilliant red berries that were backed by split rail fences. I stopped for a while by an old farm house and listened to a rooster crow. I enjoyed the blue of the wild flowers growing on the side of the road and smelled fresh cut grass and the familiar smell of chickens. The morning air had gone past the crisp cool stage and had started warming up. The muscles in my legs felt a bit of burn which was such a wonderful feeling and I tried to allow my eyes to just take it all in. The sky was clear blue and you could feel everything around you enjoying the warmth of the sun. Now that my Pearl of a sister is with us I am hoping to get out and do little things like this more often. We all need these moments often and regularly. Inside of us there is a soul just wanting to unfurl and open and soak in beauty that is everywhere in color and splendor. So often I am bogged down by myself and all I struggle with. I see out my windows the green of the trees and the spires of the church, the distant mountain top, the glimpse of a sunset blaze but I am not IN it. Today while biking I felt IN it and a PART of it ~ at least my soul did. Now I am home again in the four walls but the children are happily coloring and the baby is humming and happy and these moments seem fewer than they should. So I am trying to feel full in this moment.