Riding My Bike

Riding My Bike

Riding my bike earlier today before the rain and wind came onshore, I sped past a senior adult and I suspect her middle-aged son. A brief few seconds from my day, but the moment resonated in my mind and my heart. I had only glanced at them.

It came from her expression and later, my intuition.

As I biked up the Pinellas Trail from downtown St. Petersburg, Florida toward Treasure Island it was about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, but it had been her expression that kept tapping at my brain and emotions. Her eyes now surrounded by gray hair and wrinkles, but they had shown terror. And then it all made sense inside my mind.

I guessed that the mother’s body had aged well past eighty years and she had lost the ability to walk freely without the help from what I researched from the internet was as a four-wheel Rollator. Her middle-aged son, now a brown-haired, full-grown man, lacked the ability to care for himself. It was not his body; it was his brain. Her eyes engaged, his eyes were likely a dull haze that stared at nothing specific but dead leaves, sand and pavement.

I think these are moments when Divine Providence shoves me and whispers, “Don’t be so self-centered; life can be a lot worse jerk.”

The truth being at the exact moment I biked past them; I had fixated my thoughts on book sales for my recently published novel. It was all about me, me, and well, me.

I do not understand from where this next sentence comes from, but I think it’ll make my point.

It’s not always a holiday season for everyone, the fact, it’s just a reminder how horrible life can be.

I dodged downtown traffic and got my bike back home. I took off my bicycle helmet and stared down at the light gray painted concrete floor inside the nice place I live. I said two words into the air. “Thank you.”

I learned a life lesson in less than three seconds.

I’ll accept whatever comes next, be humble and thankful for the most part, my life has been blessed.

Merry Christmas.

NS