Motorcycles & More

I was sitting in sixth-grade algebra when the front office called for me to leave class.  I had an appointment that day so I hurriedly gathered my things and headed outside.  I skipped down the front steps, happy to be leaving school early when I was stopped dead in my tracks.

My mother was there to pick me up.  She waved at me from the parking lot where she sat waiting on her Honda 350 motorcycle.  I groaned inwardly.  Not the motorcycle again!  We never took the car anywhere.  Unless it rained. 

I never seemed to get lucky enough for rain.

With my eyes downcast, I walked as quickly as I could across the front lawn of Central Junior High School, certain that everyone was watching me through the windows.  My mother smiled broadly at me as I approached. “Mother!” I hissed as I got close enough for her to hear me, “why did you come to get me on that… thing?” I gestured toward the bike.  “Why not?” she said not missing a beat, “It’s a beautiful day for a ride.”    I knew that arguing was futile so I took the helmet she handed me and jammed it on my head.

“Ready to go?” she asked still smiling.  “Ready to die.” I thought to myself as I quickly hopped on the back of the bike.  

When you’re twelve years old everything embarrasses you.  But for some reason, my mother seemed particularly adept in this area.  Besides riding her motorcycle around town clad in her white, fringed leather jacket, she also operated heavy equipment at a golf course, trained horses at a nearby stable and absolutely refused to wear makeup.  At times, it seemed to me that she went out of her way to be different.  It was like she actually tried not to fit in.

Looking back now, I realize that there was probably some truth in that.  She didn’t want to fit in.  She wanted, in fact, to be unique.  To be herself.  And, she had the courage to do so.  Regardless of what other people thought.  She did what made her happy.

 We should all feel so unintimidated. 

I tell these stories now with a smile on my face.   Because I know that in her defiant quest to be herself, she ultimately showed me who I could be.  Whether this was intentional or not, I do not know.  But, either way, the results were the same.  I learned that it’s okay to be different.  It’s good to rock the boat once in a while and that it’s more important to do what you love than to do what is popular.