The old gang

There was a moment on my ride today, near the end after a long chilly descent from Caribou, where I entered a patch of dirt road basked in sunlight. To the left, a small pond with a glaze of ice on top, and above, the knock-knock-knocking of a chipmunk. I slowed down and smiled. Next to me, Stella ran with a big grin, doing what she loves to do most: run. In a few minutes I'd be heading home to the smiling face of my wife, where she'd give me a big hug and say to me, in a half-sleep, "How was your ride…I missed you." An hour later, off to a low paying job that is absolutely what I want to be doing, with a great group of people. And it hit me – life is good.

I peruse the web from time-to-time to keep up with old friends. Just…see how they are doing. And it makes me happy to see that life is good for them too. It seems there is a lot of positivity happening right now. Meriwether for example…starting to build frames. This is undeniably a good thing, for it is something he has wanted to do for a long time. May they be the straightest, strongest and most soulful frames ever built. My friend Dave, just off his big vacation, starting a new career where he will change the world. The world could use more people like him…people who want to change it for the better and the vision and talent to actually make it real. And I'll just say this right now – he and his wife are simply the best parents I have ever seen. I see SMRP, at her ranch, with the animals she loves. May they be strong of health, because lord knows they have not all been and she deserves ease and health for them. Even Josh – we were never terribly close but I considered him a friend – is with a cool woman and riding bikes and building bridges. Bad ass. Those cross rides look cool, and it's good to see that stoke alive and well. I follow tabs with Megan, up in Montana, travelling around the world, doing things with a style that only she has. There are some I have completely lost track of, Timmy, and of course a central person in my formal life. But I hope more than anything that they are doing well. Somehow I suspect they are.

This fall has been good. Obviously things are going well here, but it's bigger. Elaine has her health at a level she has not seen in a decade and is getting used to living life in the clear, her medications dropped to almost nill, and shockingly her symptoms non-existent. It's October, the sun is dying and this is usually when things head south for her, but this time around…it's not happening. This too is a great thing – in my world, the greatest.

It's interesting to me how the world shakes things up and brings about total chaos – chaos that seems unsolvable – and then settles everything into a place where it belongs. It's a cool thing. I can look at my own situation and say…this sucks…I got a raw deal with all that happened. But then, I look at the here-and-now, and think…no…everything happened EXACTLY the way it needed too.

Last night Elaine and I took Stella for a walk. To the south, Orion hung on the horizon, a harbinger of a winter to come. Elaine smelled the air and said, "it doesn't smell like fall anymore…it's something different. It smells like winter!" I still think there is a little more fall left. On my ride up to Caribou today, there are still strong signs of it – leaves hanging on through the long cold nights. But there is no denying things are changing. In the seasons, and in life. And this, I would have to say, is the most beautiful thing there is.