lost and found in retirement
I pedaled west from Berea towards Sandusky from the starting line of the 2010 Bike MS 150 Pedal to the Point. I was surrounded by 2,400 cyclists, most of them much more experienced, fitter, and on much more expensive bikes. I questioned if I had any right to cycle with them. I was a new cyclist, only a year out of getting on my bike…
I recently posted a photo on Facebook of my first bicycle tour. I looked at my fully loaded bike in that post. It looked like one of those third world cargo cyclist photos where the cyclist is dwarfed by their cargo larger than Santa’s sack of toys. I am not an expert bicycle tourist by any means. I am probably a typical casual bicycle tourist….
Using the “f” word was a criminal offense punishable in the most severe way in my childhood home. One of my favorite scenes from A Christmas story was when Ralphie utters the f*ck word. It echoes my experiences as a Midwest baby boomer. Childish insults might include obscenities but never the “f” word. Times have changed. F*ck has become mainstream, most likely because of its…
February 21, 1970 was not a typical Saturday morning. I would normally be glued to the TV watching cartoons. Instead, I was preparing to visit my father in Alliance City Hospital. He was being transferred out of intensive care. A phone call that morning changed my world. The call from the hospical infomred my mother that my father had passed away. My dad lived an…
I nervously scanned the people in the conference room at Summa Akron City Hospital on that cold January night in 2008. I was taking my first step towards bariatric surgery by attending a weight loss seminar. I saw a cross-section of obese people who appeared to be equally as uneasy. I suspect my newer friends and followers may not know I had bariatric surgery. I…
Facebook reminded me this morning that two years ago I walked out of my office and into retired life. Two years later, I am still discovering life as a retired person. Last year, I reflected on what one year into retirement looked like. Here are twelve things I discovered two years out. First lessons still hold true. I was given a copy of How to…
Community I toured Florida’s Space Coast in early spring on Bike Florida’s supported weeklong tour. Like Ohio’s GOBA, this ride is a moving community of cyclists where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities return to renew friendships and make new friends. Flavor I returned to the North Carolina Coastal Tour in late April. Mom and pop diners and dives are on my radar on…
You think you know what pigs in a blanket are? Do you think they are little smokies wrapped and baked in crescent roll dough? Delicious but not the same thing in Alliance, Ohio where people know cabbage rolls as pigs in a blanket. I was unaware that this was a regional thing until I moved away. The first time I told my husband Brett we…